


Needing/Getting

by GayDemonicDisaster (scrapheapchallenge)



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: 6000 Years of Pining (Good Omens), A/B/O, Accidental Bonding, Accidental Knotting, Accidental Relationship, Alpha Crowley (Good Omens), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Anxious Aziraphale (Good Omens), Aziraphale Has a Vulva (Good Omens), Aziraphale Loves Crowley (Good Omens), Bottom Aziraphale (Good Omens), Caring Crowley (Good Omens), Crowley Has a Penis (Good Omens), Crowley Loves Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley is Bad at Being a Demon (Good Omens), Crowley is Bad at Feelings (Good Omens), Crowley is a Sweetheart (Good Omens), F/M, Knotting, M/M, Marking, Multi, No Babies, No Pregnancy, No mpreg, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Aziraphale (Good Omens), Omega Verse, Oral Sex, Other, Possessive Crowley, Possessive Crowley (Good Omens), Protective Crowley (Good Omens), Rough Sex, Sex, Soft Aziraphale (Good Omens), Soft Crowley (Good Omens), Top Crowley (Good Omens), Vaginal Sex, Worried Aziraphale (Good Omens), accidental marking, he/him prononouns for Aziraphale, masc crowley, the Full Milton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:07:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 33,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23768968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrapheapchallenge/pseuds/GayDemonicDisaster
Summary: “You know I’d never hurt you, Aziraphale, and that includes doing anything that might put you at risk of falling. And I’m pretty sure getting mated and marked by a demon alpha would be right at the top of that list. Not that any of us know for sure, but I wouldn’t want to take the risk.”Crowley has spent thousands of years carefully loving Aziraphale from a safe distance, they put plans in place to keep each other safe, until it all falls apart one day when Crowley is sent a job from below to carry out a temptation that turns into a trainwreck of wrong place, wrong time, wrong person. Crowley owns his mistake and vows to make it right.But how to explain it to Aziraphale? How can he make the angel his at last, and how can he reconcile the hidden aspect of his life with what he wants for himself and Aziraphale?Angst with a happy ending. While this is A/B/O (Omegaverse), because I’m tokophobic, there is*no* mention of reproduction/pregnancy/kids if that also grosses you out. The dynamics are mainly about bonding and partnership.  It weaves around in the background of the events before Crowley is handed the antichrist, while he’s raising Warlock, Armageddon, and afterwards.
Relationships: Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens) & Original Female Character(s), Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens) & Original Female Character(s), Crowley (Good Omens)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 196
Kudos: 263
Collections: Ixnael’s Recommendations





	1. Distancing

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter is the shortest by far, the others are a bit lengthier.
> 
> “I've been waiting for months, waiting for years, waiting for you to change.  
> Aw, but there ain't much that's dumber, there ain't much that's dumber  
> than pinning your hopes on a change in another.  
> And I, yeah I still need you, but what good's that gonna do?  
> Needing is one thing, and getting, getting's another.
> 
> So I been sitting around, wasting my time, wondering what you been doing.  
> Aw, and it ain't real forgiving, it ain't real forgiving sitting here picturing someone else living.  
> And I, yeah I still need you, but what good's that gonna do?  
> Needing is one thing, and getting, getting's another.
> 
> I've been hoping for months, hoping for years, hoping I might forget.  
> Aw but it don't get much dumber, it don't get much dumber  
> than trying to forget a girl when you love her.  
> And I, yeah I still need you, but what good's that gonna do?  
> Needing is one thing, and getting, getting's another.”  
> -OKGO.

Crowley slammed the heel of his hand on the steering wheel of the Bentley as he sat parked on the darkened street and swore. His guts were a writhing mess of conflicting emotions. He rested his head on the steering wheel and thought about what he’d just done. 

He’d fucked up. 

This wasn’t just some minor inconvenience, this wasn’t something that would only impact on him, no. He’d fucked up someone else’s life permanently, an innocent human caught in the crossfire. It was all his fault, and he’d have to live with that. So would she. 

Crowley may be a demon, but he never set out to actively harm humans if he could help it. It went against his very nature. Sure he’d annoy them, cause them little irritations, tempt them in the most pleasurable ways possible into sin, but he was a gentleman about it. He cared about humans. It was a major failing in a demon. 

Sure, he tried to hide it, pretended to be more evil than he was, talked a big game down in hell for the benefit of his reputation. Because to show weakness was not the most advisable course of action for any demon. Not that he was weak, far from it. He had been pretty damned important before the fall, a fact known between only him, Satan, and possibly another denizen or two of Hell who had seen him on arrival, only two of six wings remaining, scorched, bloodied and maimed from his fall. He was one of the most powerful demons in hell, although he kept that fairly quiet as well, and pretended to be a bit more lowly than indeed he was. It was better to be underestimated.    
  
Nonetheless, Crowley was an Alpha, and a powerful one at that. His mere presence in a room could make everyone else there cower in deference if he so desired, although generally he tamped his power down to remain discreet and fly under the radar on a day to day basis. 

For the past six thousand years, Crowley had only ever desired one Omega though - a certain blonde haired angel. But although they were friends, as close as could be, Crowley remained afraid that he would make Aziraphale fall if they ever gave into their baser desires and instincts and bonded. And his alpha nature meant that his desire to protect Aziraphale from anything and everything was able to take priority over whatever his libido had to say on the matter. 

Not without some difficulty however. Which had led to the other Arrangement. 

Crowley hadn’t spent as much time around the angel in the early days. They’d meet up every few years, sure, with increasing frequency as time went by, but it was easy at first to not bump into each other when the angel was in heat or the demon in rut. 

But soon it became clear that the hold the angel had on him was far stronger than he’d ever thought possible. The first time he’d scented Aziraphale in heat he’d almost gone wild with the desire to chase him down and confess his love for him, to rip both their clothes off and take him in every way possible. And that was merely smelling him from the other side of town. He wasn’t in rut himself at the time, as otherwise it would have been utterly overwhelming and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to hold back even with his iron self control. 

As it was, he’d been able to recognise Azirapahle’s pheromones for what they were, recognising the source of the tantalising scent that his particularly serpentine sense of smell could taste on the air like sweet honey. Somehow he’d had enough self awareness to be able to prevent himself from tracking the angel down. He’d dug his fingernails into his own arms until they bled, trying to ground himself, and when it felt like he’d lose his grip he capitulated and hastily miracled himself to the other side of the planet. To safety where he wouldn’t be able to taste that intoxicating scent, lest he lose his self restraint and pursue it. 

He’d left it a couple of weeks to be safe, to allow the angel’s heat to subside before he sought him out again. He’d tracked him down to a bar in some village in Greece and sat down next to him, face grim. “We have to talk.” he’d growled through gritted teeth. 

Interesting that the other Arrangement came about perforce centuries before the whole miracles/temptations Arrangement did. But they had to do it, to keep the angel safe. 

Aziraphale lifted his brows in surprise over his cup of wine as the demon sat down next to him. “Crowley, what a delight to see you, dear boy. What appears to be the problem?”

Crowley gave him a long, appraising look, raking the angel’s exquisite form with eyes tinged with barely concealed lust, despite neither of them being in heat at the time, he still desired him. It was just far easier to control things like this. 

“Look Angel, I’m going to be frank here, because this needs to be out in the open. I know you’re an omega, I can smell it, even when you’re not in heat I can still tell. Now I’ve never been around you while I’m in rut but I’m pretty sure you can still tell I’m an alpha, and this presents a problem.”

Aziraphale leaned back in his chair, wary. Where on earth was this going? Was Crowley going to make a move on him even though he wasn’t in heat? His eyes nervously darted to the exit, weighing his options. He did find Crowley extremely attractive, and if he was honest with himself, Crowley’s was the face he envisaged when he was in heat, while trying to distract himself from the torment his body put him through. Crowley’s was always the name on his lips whenever he came, although he didn’t know if he could ever admit that to the demon. He was an angel, it was unthinkable. 

“Relax, Aziraphale, you’re safe. I never want anything to happen to you, which is why I needed to talk to you. I smelled you the other week when you were… well. You know. I was two  _ miles  _ away, Aziraphale. I can pick it up over a far greater distance than even humans can, and it doesn’t matter if you use perfumes to try to cover it up, I can still sense it. I know what you smell like.” He paused to pour himself a cup of wine from one of the amphorae on the table, and took a gulp. 

“You know I’d never hurt you, Aziraphale, and that includes doing anything that might put you at risk of falling. And I’m pretty sure getting mated and marked by a demon alpha would be right at the top of that list. Not that any of us know for sure, but I wouldn’t want to take the risk.”

Aziraphale remained silent, not trusting himself to talk lest he say the wrong thing. His mind was in turmoil. Crowley was the only alpha he’d ever want to be taken by, even though he knew they couldn’t be together. If he couldn’t have Crowley he didn’t want anyone else. 

“So I’d like you to let me know when you’re apt to come into heat, so I can make sure I stay away from you for a couple of weeks. I’ll also let you know when I’m coming into rut so you can do likewise. I’ll need you a long way away from me during that. Can you do that for me, Angel?”

Aziraphale swallowed nervously. Whatever he had been expecting out of this conversation, this hadn’t been it. The tenderness in the demon’s voice was entirely at odds with everything one would expect a demon to be. He looked the part, but his gentleness was surprising. Especially considering his potent alpha male scent that meant others in the bar were giving him a wide berth. Aziraphale could see the concern in the demon’s eyes where his small smoked glass spectacles slid down his nose and didn’t quite conceal the beautiful gold there. 

Crowley was looking at him expectantly, patiently waiting for an answer. Aziraphale realised he had simply been sitting there gaping in surprise. “Oh, yes, yes of course, I am most dreadfully sorry, Crowley, I had no idea what effect it would have on you, I feel terrible for putting you through that…” he blustered, nervous, until Crowley’s gentle hand on his arm stilled his words. 

“Hush, Angel, none of that. It’s not your fault. You did nothing wrong, there’s nothing to apologise for. I just needed to let you know, because I want to keep you safe. I also want you to let me know if there are any alphas who pester you, if you need any help keeping them away when you’re vulnerable as well, because you know I’ll do that as well if you need me to.”

Crowley gave Aziraphale’s arm a gentle squeeze and let go, then knocked back more wine with a fond smile. The angel let out a relieved breath. “Oh, thank you, Crowley. I… I mean, it means a lot to me. I’ll be sure to let you know when you should be avoiding me. I do tend to lock myself away safe at that time anyway, but I never realised how much it affected you even at a distance.”

And so they had. They’d either learned their cycles, or if it came upon them unexpectedly, sent a messenger to alert the other that they needed to get further apart quickly. The system worked. They made it work for millennia. They had to. 

They’d never discussed it as frankly again however. They’d hedged around the subject, used veiled words, but each knew what the other was referring to when the message came. “I need some alone time.”


	2. Mistaking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley has loved and lusted after Aziraphale for millennia, the angel is the only creature he's ever desired for his own, and who he thinks of whenever he has to seduce a human for his job. His superior sense of smell can even pick up the angel from miles away when he's in heat, and these facts are about to lead to one of the biggest mistakes of his life. Crowley never set out to harm humans, but one is about to get caught up in things as collateral damage...

** 14 years before the apocalypse... **

And then there was Crowley’s job. He was one of the better looking demons in hell, a fact that his employers took full advantage of. As the original tempter, his speciality was in tempting humans to commit sins of all types. This included him being tasked to seduce humans into sin as well. Of course he didn’t desire to bond with them, to mark any. They were a job, nothing more. 

True, he was gentle and caring at what he did, unless the target requested otherwise of course. He was generous with his skills, as he figured he might as well make a good job of it. Whilst he took some pleasure from the act, it lacked the emotional attachment he craved with his angel. It was a release and not much else. 

But then came _that_ job… A trainwreck of wrong place, wrong time, wrong person, wrong state of mind. He shouldn’t have done it. At least, he shouldn’t have agreed to do it **_then_** , he should have stalled, should have put hell off with excuses as to why he had to wait a few weeks, but he didn’t. 

Crowley had received a message from Aziraphale, he was indisposed, he needed a little time alone. Crowley growled under his breath. He too, was in rut and almost mad with desire due to the hormones raging around his system. He could stay away, but it took a great dint of effort on his part to resist. 

Then, hot on the heels of that message, came the latest job from below. A target for seduction, a woman in her mid 20s. He never asked why, he didn’t need a backstory, he just had to do the job, get there, get it done, and go, same as always. And fuck knows he needed the release right now. 

Except for a couple of things. Her location that night was only a couple of miles from Aziraphale’s ‘safe house’. The Angel had a property several miles from Soho, and hence also a decent distance from Mayfair, out of respect for the demon, so that Crowley wouldn’t be forced to leave his own flat when the angel came into heat. So during these times he’d leave the bookshop for a week or two and sequester himself away in his other apartment until it had passed. 

Crowley likewise had a property elsewhere in the UK where he’d go when he was in rut, to put safe distance between him and the angel. The rest of the time they quite liked living a convenient walk from each other. 

Crowley stared at the address, then checked it out on a map. He wondered if it was far enough away from the angel. It was a few miles out. He was also already in trouble with hell though over a few jobs not carried out to their satisfaction, and he couldn’t afford to mess up another. He decided to risk it. 

And then he got there and saw her…

* * *

The target was named Celeste. About 5’11, beautifully soft and curvaceous, with long curls of pale blonde hair and blue-grey eyes. His breath caught in his throat. She was no Aziraphale, but damn it she was close. Perhaps he wouldn’t have made that connection quite so easily if his mind hadn’t already been filled with the angel, because the instant he stepped from the car outside the club he could smell him.

It was faint, tantalisingly faint, but it was there. He may be a few miles away, but Crowley would recognise that smell anywhere, and it was especially potent right now that the angel was in heat. His hormones raged in roaring lust, he ground his teeth and bit down on the inside of his cheek in an effort to tamp down his urge to just charge after that scent, to hunt the angel down and use his powers of seduction on him instead. Not that it would take much effort right now of course, he could smell how desperate Aziraphale was, and it was tearing him apart. 

**_Concentrate_ ** _! Use that frustration, use it for your literal damned  _ **_job_ ** _. _ Crowley drew a deep shuddering breath and tried to recentre himself. He had to get this done, had to carry out a seduction on a human while in full rut  _ and  _ while within a few miles of the only omega he’d ever wanted or would ever want, also in full heat.

He breathed out slowly, and unfurled a slow aura of lust around himself, curling in invisible smoke like waves out toward the target, while taking advantage of his surging alpha hormones and scent at the same time. Combined with his devastatingly good looks, every human in the club was in awe of him. All the omegas and betas were lusting after him regardless, and the alphas were on edge, wary and ready for a fight if necessary. They could tell he was powerful, and not someone to be messed with. The atmosphere was charged. He’d have to rebuff plenty of them to get to his intended target, the beautiful blonde omega standing on the other side of the club. 

She was already staring at him across the room, her and everyone else. He stalked through the crowd, allowing his lip to curl in a hint of a snarl at the occasional alpha who didn’t clear space for him quickly enough, and at any of the others who wanted to fawn on him. He wasn’t interested in them. He wanted to get this over with and get  _ out _ . 

Frustrated with trying to peel clingy omegas off him, all of them attracted by his strong masculine musky scent as much as anything else, he snapped his fingers in an attempt to clear the air somewhat, to distract all but his target from paying attention to him. Fortunately it worked and the crowd fell back and resumed whatever they had been doing as if he were a regular human being. Only Celeste remained transfixed as he stalked toward her. 

“Good evening” Crowley murmured in a deliciously low dark voice, one eyebrow raised as he came close to her, his gaze caressing her form lasciviously. “May I buy you a drink?” She nodded, eyes wide, stunned that such a powerful alpha would be paying her attention. Crowley gave her a smouldering smile. 

Even before he entered the club he could smell a few other omegas on the verge of coming into heat soon, and it seemed that Celeste was one of them, his tongue flicked briefly out between his lips, tasting the air, picking up the delicious scent she was giving off. It mingled with the fainter scent of Aziraphale from further away and the result was intoxicating. He gave a low rumbling possessive growl deep in his chest, his lust was building inexorably and he was going to struggle to keep a hold on it. 

Crowley escorted Celeste to the bar and bought them some wine to share, they then eased onto a sofa by a corner table. A particularly ballsy alpha slunk up to them and expressed an interest toward Celeste, prompting Crowley to snarl slightly, exposing teeth too sharp to be human in an unspoken threat. He allowed his aura to unfurl a little more, so the human could sense just what he was dealing with, and the other alpha backed down hastily, fear in his eyes. 

Celeste was wearing a long pale shimmery dress which skimmed her soft curves and beautifully thick thighs, which set Crowley to thinking of his angel’s thighs. He licked his lips and tried to focus. “So aren’t you out with friends tonight?” He enquired gently. She looked uncomfortable at that. 

“I was, I lost them, they wandered off to another club and left me behind, I gave up trying to find them, I think they just forgot about me. Don’t worry, I’m used to it. They got distracted by a group of guys anyway.” She sipped at her wine. Crowley felt a pang at the resigned look of hurt that briefly flashed across her face. She didn’t deserve friends who treated her like that. He smiled at her. 

“Do you object to me keeping you company this evening then?” He asked with a smile and a wink. Her expression softened and she smiled back shyly. 

“I’d like that very much. I’m Celeste.”

“Anthony, a pleasssure to meet you.” His voice dipped low and he leant forward to hiss it into her ear as he spoke, gratified to see her break out into goosebumps at the sound. She shivered and her eyes flicked to search for his behind his shades. He wasn’t worried about that aspect, as for later, when the shades would inevitably have to come off, he was able to mind manipulate humans into not noticing anything strange about his eyes if he put enough effort into it. Provided he didn’t lose concentration it was fine. For now though, they’d stay on. 

He could feel her lust spiking as well. It wasn’t just her omega pheromones, but something he could sense with anyone, any vices left a distinctive supernatural trail in the air which he could detect as easily as any mundane scent. He lounged back on the sofa next to her and took a drink of wine, allowing one hand to fall naturally between them, just brushing up against her thigh. He was gratified to sense the shock that jolted through her body at the contact, the thrill she experienced from the light, almost accidental touch. He grinned and scanned the room. 

Another alpha was showing an interest and began to move toward them, eyeing up Celeste, who tensed slightly as she noticed him too. Crowley continued to lounge back, lifting both arms to spread them wide on the back of the sofa, one behind Celeste’s shoulders. He was relaxed and utterly confident. He raised an eyebrow at the interloper in a silent challenge, as if to ask  _ are you really sure you want to try this?  _

Apparently he did. Either very brave or very fucking stupid. The guy came up to the table, feigning ignorance of Crowley, and leering at Celeste. “Nice tits, love. Gonna let me play with em?” 

Celeste wrinkled her face in disgust and cringed backwards away from the obnoxious human. Crowley growled, a threatening rumble deep in his chest. The human’s eyes flicked to the demon in contempt. Crowley surged upright in a second, the omega scents assailing his nostrils pushing him into a fiercely protective mode. He loomed over the other alpha, lips curled back to expose his fangs, hands clawed and tense at his sides. He didn’t want to have to get into a fight tonight, but his instincts were raging and pushing him to want to take this fucker down. 

He shot one hand out, snakebite fast, gripping the other alpha’s neck hard, then yanked him close and hissed in his ear.  _ “If you don’t piss off right the fuck  _ **_now_ ** _ , I’ll rip your damn throat out, you piece of shit. If I  _ **_ever_ ** _ hear you talking to a woman like that again, I’ll drag you to hell and boil you in sulphur for all eternity.”  _ He dropped the human again in disgust and watched as he scrambled to his feet and scurried for the exit, eyes wide with fear. 

Crowley grunted and shook himself off before sitting back down again and taking another gulp of wine. He felt Celeste’s hand land lightly on his own thigh, and he began to untense. He drew the fingers of his own hand up her thigh in a light stroke. He heard her whimper and felt her shiver under his gentle caress. He flicked his tongue out briefly and tasted her arousal on the air, her panties must be soaking. 

Setting his glass aside, he turned his head to breathe against her neck, teasing, drawing a gasp from her, then pressed closer and brushed her neck with his lips in the lightest kiss on her hot skin. She tipped her head back slightly, exposing her throat for more, and he licked up her neck slowly, tasting the delicious salt sweet skin, feeling her pulse fluttering rapidly under his tongue, and he moaned into her neck, his cock twitching in his trousers. 

Seeing her unravel under even this light touch, he adjusted his position slightly and pressed a firmer kiss to her neck, skimming his fingers up her thigh again, then winding his hand around her waist and pulling her closer as he licked her ear. He brought his hand up to her cheek and turned her face to his, regarding her intently. Her lips were parted and her pupils wide with desire. He hovered his mouth an inch from hers, feeling her quivering under his hands, then closed the gap to kiss her. 

She melted into his embrace, tongue meeting his tentatively at first, and then with growing confidence. Her hand came up to stroke through his red hair, he mirrored the touch with his own slender fingers combing through her soft blonde locks as they fell in gentle waves down past her shoulders. She was his now, the rest was plain sailing, and oh  _ fuck  _ how badly he needed this right now. He broke off the kiss and gazed at her, fierce with desire. “Shall we go back to yours?” She nodded hastily. Temptation accomplished.

* * *

As they stepped outside onto the street, the distant scent of Aziraphale assaulted his nostrils again and his lust flared brighter. He would have to substitute Celeste for his angel, he snaked a hand around her waist and tugged her a little closer to him protectively. He noticed her pheromones were amping up now as well, prompted by the proximity of a powerful alpha in rut, it had triggered her heat to peak sooner in response. The scent was maddening and Crowley was having to resist the overwhelming urge to just shove her up against a wall and take her then and there, but his self control, frayed as it was, was still sufficient to hold back for now. He could never do something so brash to a fragile human. He always resolved to make the experience enjoyable for them, and this should be no different. 

He drove them back to her flat in the Bentley, one hand resting on her thigh apart from when he needed to change gear. He slid it up between her thighs, lifting her dress as he went, and feeling the hot wetness there through her lacy panties. He groaned and shifted uneasily in his seat, his cock uncomfortable in his tight jeans, hard and demanding action. He reluctantly removed his hand to a whimper of disappointment from Celeste and tried to concentrate on driving. 

When they got to hers, he couldn’t hold back as she fumbled for her keys, he grabbed her and pressed her against the wall next to the front door, lips crushing hers fiercely in an urgent kiss, hips grinding against hers, as she lifted a leg high around his hip, whining needily at him. “Oh fuck, Anthony… I need you…” she gasped into his neck as he frotted against her, his hands hard on her hips. Even here he could still smell Aziraphale in the distance and he was starting to lose control. 

“Inside,  _ now _ .” he hissed urgently. He released her reluctantly, but had to peel her hands off him to remind her to unlock the door as she didn’t want to let go either. Once in, they wasted no time, kissing and stripping in a fumbling chaotic mess, hands all over each other as they stumbled towards the bedroom, kicking off shoes, casting aside jackets in a frenzy. 

Then Crowley was standing at the foot of the bed with the human in his arms, kissing her and crushing her body to his, he pulled her dress up and off her head, casting it aside. She grabbed him again and bit at his neck passionately. “Treat me rough” she moaned into his ear, clawing at his back already. Crowley grinned and shoved her back onto the bed. He flicked his shades off, ensuring she didn’t notice his eyes were anything but normal with a quick miracle.

“Your wish is my command.” He gazed down at her beautiful body laid out before him, gorgeous thick thighs so like his angel’s, pillowy soft breasts constrained in a heavy duty bra. Growling with pent up lust, he straddled her hips and leant down to kiss her again then bit down her neck leaving a series of purplish marks in his wake as she groaned under him, writhing with need. 

He sat up and she raised her body up, held in his arms, as he reached behind her to undo her bra with a series of practised flicks of his fingers, letting her ample breasts fall free, gathering them up in both hands, relishing the weight of them. He imagined that if Aziraphale were to take a fully female form, the angel might look like this. He moaned and kissed them worshipfully, biting them tenderly without leaving marks, just owning them and wanting to taste. He sucked on one nipple and then the other until she moaned.

Crowley pushed her upper body back on the bed again and slithered down her body until his face was level with her lacy panties, which were wet with her juices, the scent intoxicating, making the demon’s mind whirl and lose himself in the pheromones she was giving off. He licked at her vulva through the fabric then bit at it and tore the panties away completely before diving back to lap at her dripping cunt with fervour. His talented tongue went to work, making her wriggle and cry out as he teased her folds, nudged and circled her clit and tongue fucked her as only he could. 

Celeste whined as she smelled the demon’s rutting alpha pheromones amping up and filling the room. A hot wave of urgency was building in her abdomen, a frustration and demand to be taken, mated and marked. She needed the alpha to fuck her, to fuck her hard, to own and bite her, to possess her. His tongue was amazing, and she screamed out and came hard, gushing, as Crowley licked her though the aftershocks, but still she needed more. 

He brought his long skilled fingers up and pressed deep inside her, her eyes rolled back in her head and her back arched, grinding down on the demon’s hand, begging for more. He added more fingers and plunged in deeper, then sucked on her clit until she was screaming and shaking, pussy clamping tight around his fingers in another shuddering orgasm. Crowley withdrew his fingers and licked them clean while watching her intently as she came down from her second orgasm. He needed to fuck her so badly, but he suspected in this state he wouldn’t last long. Normally he’d want to draw things out over an hour or two at the very least, to give the human a thoroughly good time, but with her in heat and him in rut, patience wasn’t on the menu for either of them. 

She was breathing hard, eyes begging him for more. “Please…” she whimpered. “Please, more, I need you, I need your cock, I need you to take me, Anthony, please…” She was desperate, her hormones in charge, captivated by the powerful alpha between her legs. Crowley surged up her body and kissed her again, his aching cock now freed and rubbing against her slit and clit. 

“You want thissss?” he teased, rolling his hips to rub up against her, feeling the wetness with his cock and only barely holding back from plunging in. She cried out and lifted her hips to his, grabbing at his back and arse desperately, trying to pull him closer. 

“Please, yes, please please please, fuck me, I need you…”

Crowley obliged. He shuddered with restraint as he breached her sweet cunt slowly, his cock engorged and impatient for action, but he knew he had to start gently, he wasn’t small and didn’t want to hurt her. He gradually sunk all ten inches deep inside her, achingly slow, the girth stretching her beautifully, she cried out so prettily and tried to pull him in more, leaving red weals on his skin as she clawed at him. 

Bottoming out, Crowley held himself there for a moment, allowing her to adjust to his size, breathing hard. He took a moment to kiss her again, then nipped gently down her jaw and neck as he began to roll his hips again, holding her tight and rocking together, building up tempo gradually. Soon he was plunging in hard as she screamed with euphoria. Her scent now wrapped around him so much he couldn’t think straight. The wind must have shifted as well though, as Aziraphale’s scent in the distance became stronger too, drifting in through the open window. 

Crowley lost himself in the fantasy, that it was his angel underneath him now, that beautiful blonde hair was Aziraphale’s, the soft skin he was kissing, the sweet cunt he was filling, all his angel’s, this is what it would be like, he knew. That was his last rational thought as he lost himself entirely in the animalistic act and his ancient primal instincts took over completely. 

He’d never done this before under such circumstances, he’d always been able to hold himself back and show restraint, but now he was lost, he wasn’t in control and couldn’t have strung a thought together if you’d asked him. If anyone had interrupted him at that point he’d probably have killed them in rage at interfering with his mating. Overcome by the powerful pheromones and his own rabid rutting, he felt his knot building, a large swelling near the base of his cock, locking him together, so he could no longer pull out all the way, reducing him to short powerful thrusts. “ _ Mine”  _ he growled. But all he was thinking about was Aziraphale, and in his fantasy, that's who was in his arms right now.

If he’d been more coherent at this point, he’d have known what was inevitably going to happen next, he was in too deep, literally. He was lost in his own desires and plunging off a cliff of lust without regard to the consequences. He held Celeste tighter and buried his fangs in her shoulder, biting down hard as he came, exploding inside her in thick sticky pulses of hot come, filling her completely as he marked her with a possessive growl. She was his. His and _ no one _ else’s.

Celeste was crying out with pleasure, arms and legs wrapped tight around him as she came again and again, aftershocks shuddering through her body, her own come gushing around the demon’s cock, clamping down hard around his knot, locked together with him as he came inside her. “Yours…” she whispered exhausted. Crowley collapsed on top of her, breathing hard, hot, sweaty and spent. 

They were tied together now until his knot subsided. He licked gently at the wound in a haze of endorphins, and kissed up and down her neck, revelling in her scent, now proclaiming her to be a taken, bonded omega. He was drunk on hormones and afterglow, dizzy with the intensity of his release for the first time in his existence. He’d never done this before, never felt like this before, this wasn’t regular sex, this was something else, something he’d never had. It had blown his mind. 

But after a few minutes his primal brain began to let go of his coherent thoughts and realisation and horror crept in at the implications of what he’d just done. He’d never knotted someone before, let alone marked them. Even so he’d never lost control to this degree before. He’d always been able to keep a lid on his instincts up until now.

“Oh fuck…” he muttered, his eyes widening. “Oh shit, Celeste, I…” He couldn’t pull out, they were still tied together. He stared at the mating mark on her pale neck. His mark. His fault. His epic fuck up. “I’m so sorry…” he began. “ _ Fuck _ , Celeste, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that, oh fuck what have I  _ done _ ?”

Her own afterglow was rather slower in dissipating. She smiled up at him, content. “I’m yours” Then her expression changed into confusion. “What happened to your eyes?” she questioned. 

_ Shit _ . He’d lost concentration on the manipulation during proceedings, she could see his serpentine eyes now, and now that she had, she couldn’t unsee them again. He literally couldn’t escape this, he was stuck inside her and had no choice but to explain. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to scare you, these are my real eyes. I’m… not human. I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done any of this, I shouldn’t have marked you, I’ve fucked up, this isn’t your fault.” He looked miserable. 

Celeste shushed him and held him closer, stroking his hair soothingly. “No, you haven’t fucked up, Anthony, it’s fine, I’m yours, you’re ok, you didn’t do anything wrong, I wanted it.” 

Crowley grimaced. He really didn’t want to have this conversation while perforce still balls deep inside her. He writhed uncomfortably, but she gasped with a twinge of pain, he couldn’t disengage yet without hurting them both. He stilled and hung his head in shame. “I’m sorry.”

“What did you mean by you’re not human anyway?” She had only just registered what he’d said before. Crowley cringed. He met her gaze again. “Eyes. Demon. I’m a fucking demon. I was sent to seduce you, and I fucked it up, I’m sorry, Celeste. You didn’t deserve any of this.”

Understanding dawned, but she didn’t seem afraid. Crowley was confused for a moment before realising why. Of course she wouldn’t be afraid, they’d just bonded, she was his, she didn’t care what he was, except that he was hers. Except, despite the hormones raging around his system telling him this too, his rational brain was wracked with pain and conflict. Because he couldn’t be hers. He only ever wanted to belong to Aziraphale. And he’d just gone and paired with a human, marked her as his own personal property, before he’d even confessed his love to the angel. 

“Look, I can’t talk about this right now, just… just hold me, ok? Until we can talk about this properly... ok?” He collapsed down on her, and took comfort from her arms wrapped around him, and her beautiful scent in his nostrils and on his tongue. She was his. He sighed and hugged her tighter as she returned the embrace. She felt right on one level, but his brain couldn’t deal with it right now. He just remained in her embrace and tried to doze while he waited for his knot to subside.

* * *

Crowley drifted in a haze of endorphins, snuggling close to Celeste’s soft warmth, head on her shoulder breathing in her comforting scent. After a little while she shifted under him, rousing him, and he found himself able to slowly withdraw, with a brief pang of regret, to lie next to her. He was still feeling protective, and twined his legs in hers, reaching one arm across her torso to hug her to his body. He stared into nothing and tried to think. They were going to have to discuss this. He pressed a regretful kiss to the skin of her shoulder and his eyes met hers. 

“I’m sorry.” he began. Unsure how to deal with all of this. She looked hurt, utterly broken, and.. Afraid. 

“You don’t want me?” tears were welling in her eyes. It would be the cruellest thing for an alpha to do - to mark an omega as theirs and then abandon them. Tied to them and unable to be taken by anyone else again. Not only would the omega be off limits to other alphas for the rest of their life, but if any did attempt to come close, then the omega’s bonded alpha would be overcome with jealousy, even if they didn’t want the omega themselves, they’d still feel fiercely protective over their property, and fight off any other alpha who attempted to take them away. 

He’d just condemned her to a lifetime alone, unloved, unfulfilled, unable to ever have another mate other than him. He felt like shit. He felt like the most wretched, contemptible, reprehensible creature on the face of the planet. She didn’t deserve what he’d just done to her, all because he couldn’t keep control over his fucking corporation and its stupid animalistic instincts. Because he couldn’t keep his head clear of his angel long enough to get his job done without being distracted by what he really wanted. He’d projected someone else onto this innocent human and she’d paid the price for his inattention. 

Crowley knew that omegas abandoned by their alphas rarely fared well. They’d often pine, forget to eat, drink or look after themselves, just fade away or worse. He hated himself for putting her at risk.

But part of what he’d done included the fact that he now felt the urge to protect her. He had no fucking clue how he could do that, especially when who he really should have protected her against was himself and his loathsome urges. 

Crowley watched as the tears trickled down her face, hating himself utterly for doing that to her, she was feeling rejected and alone, contemplating what her life was going to be like now. He’d hurt her, he felt a stab of pain in his gut at the thought. He shook his head and held her tighter, lifting himself up to kiss her tears away. “No, please don’t cry, please, we’ll work something out, I’m so sorry. I won’t let you suffer for my mistake, I won’t leave you, I’ll look after you, I promise, I’ll find a way to deal with this, please don’t cry…”

He didn’t feel love for this human, but he was feeling other things. It was inescapable after bonding. He cared for her, cared about her, even if he could never love her like he loved his angel, he would at least do the right thing and make sure he compensated for the situation he’d put her in. 

He ceased kissing her face and looked her in the eyes seriously. “Look, I shouldn’t have done that, I was meant to tempt you, to sleep with you, and that was it, I shouldn’t have done it while I was in rut, I might have been ok, I usually have good self control, but… I’m in love with someone. I have been for longer than you could possibly imagine. I can’t have him, he’s an omega, he’s not bonded to anyone, but we understand each other. I’d wait to the end of time to have him, and at the moment that feels like what I’m going to have to do.”

Crowley paused and considered his words. “He’s in heat right now, and he’s only a few miles from here, I can smell him and it’s been driving me mad since I arrived. You look so much like him, Celeste, you’re so beautiful. You have his eyes, his hair, his beautiful soft body, thick thighs, soft hands, you’re perfection. Pairing with you while thinking of him, while  _ smelling  _ him, it was too much, I lost myself. I was imagining bonding with him while I was with you and I’m sorry.”

Celeste’s expression was no less pained, but understanding was dawning. She nodded and bit her lip. “I’m happy to be your second, he can be your primary, if that’s what you want.” She offered, eyes pleading. Crowley huffed a half laugh. 

“Celeste, that’s a lovely idea, but I think it’ll be several thousand years before I ever get close to being able to bond with him at all. For now, you’re the only omega I have. I may not be able to love you, I’m not going to lie to you, or give you false hope, but I promise you that I’ll care for you. I’ll make sure you’re provided for, you’re kept safe. I’ll come to you whenever you need me, when you're in heat, and give you what you need. But I can’t live with you. I won’t promise you anything I can’t give, but I won’t let you suffer either.” 

Celeste breathed a sigh of relief and held him close for a moment before letting go. “I understand” she said. “I suppose we’d better set some boundaries, get some ground rules then, so we know where the lines are, what lines we can’t cross with each other, so we can make this work.”

Crowley nodded, grateful that she understood and was being level headed about all this. “Good idea.” But first, they both needed more. Her heat was apt to last a few days at least, as was Cowley’s rut. Neither would be able to bear being apart from the other until it was over, so he settled down to pleasuring her in every way possible, as often as possible until they were both sated.

* * *

In between, they discussed the situation, drew lines in the sand, and she encouraged him to talk to her about Aziraphale. It felt strange to Crowley, for the first time in his life to have someone he  _ could  _ talk to about the angel, someone he could trust, not of heaven or hell. He let it all pour out in between their pairings as she idly ran her fingers through his hair while he rested his head on her shoulder. It was liberating somehow. 

Crowley’s only friend for thousands of years had been Aziraphale, the only entity who could understand what it was like to be him, but there was always a subject that Crowley could never discuss with the angel - how much he loved him. The frank discussion about the heat and rutting aside, Crowley had never let his  _ feelings  _ slip to Aziraphale. 

He didn’t have friends amongst hell, and definitely not heaven. He’d had acquaintances with humans over the centuries of course, but their mayfly lives were so short that after a while it hardly seemed to be much point in getting close to them before they were gone again. He rarely bothered nowadays. 

True, this human would be as short lived as the rest of them, but he’d bonded to her, and it looked like they’d be intertwined for at least a few decades, so he might as well be honest with her. Besides, she was a good listener. She was patient and did her best to wrap her head around the enormity of what the demon had to say. He was pretty sure any other human would have been too afraid to take it in with any degree of coherence, but the calming influence he had over her after marking her made it so much easier. 

The easy intimacy was new as well. In between the sex, she’d just hold him, a soft comforting weight curled against his lean frame, legs intertwined, an arm draped around his body. The touch, the embrace… wasn’t something Crowley was familiar with. At first he was stiff, unresponsive and on edge with the unusual sensations, but he quickly relaxed into the contact, and began to seek it out, nuzzling into the safety of her arms, or spooning up against her, front or back, both were delightful, breathing in the warm soft omega scent from her smooth skin. He’d bury his nose in her silken hair, hold her back just as close and drift, imagining, dreaming of Aziraphale.

After a few days, her heat receded and her insatiable appetite waned along with Crowley’s rut. Their coupling became less frequent, more leisurely and less frantic. Crowley began to feel the hold beginning to weaken. In another day she’d be ok on her own again, and he could go home. She was understandably anxious, but he did his best to soothe her fears of abandonment with a promise to check in at least weekly in person until she was comfortable with less frequent contact. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was where the plot kicked off. Crowley doesn't love Aziraphale any less, but now he has a new responsibility, to care for a human whose life he's damaged through his inattention, and he'll be damned if he's not going to make things right somehow. 
> 
> In the next chapter Crowley will need to deal with the different aspects of his life as the countdown begins to a certain dark night in a graveyard when he's going to be handed a basket to deal with.


	3. Working

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley carries on his work for hell, and his friendship (pining) with Aziraphale, as we come closer to the point at which a certain basket is going to appear in his life. From that point assume everything between Aziraphale/Crowely is as per book/TV show, so there's no point re-typing those scenes exactly as they are. Here we see what Crowley gets up to in the background when he's not with Aziraphale or out on temptations or at home. 
> 
> The more Aziraphale-heavy stuff kicks in next chapter, tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realise it feels like there isn't as much Aziraphale/Crowley dialogue in this *yet*, but that's for good reason, because this is going along in the background of the canon material as it were. It seemed pointless to re-write all the book/TV scenes of them together that we are already familiar with. 
> 
> Take it as read that during this time, Crowley and Aziraphale are going about their activities as per the book/show, except that Crowley has this secret behind the scenes aspect going on in his spare time now and then, every month or two he makes a visit to check Celeste is ok. Mainly when either while she's in heat or he's in rut. 
> 
> Don't worry, Aziraphale will of course become far more central to the plot as this story progresses.

Now Crowley sat in his Bentley outside Aziraphale’s bookshop, he knew the angel’s heat had ended as well and he was back in Soho, but he was steeling himself for the prospect of meeting him again. He sat with his head resting on the steering wheel, thinking about the past few days. He’d fucked up, and he had to deal with that. He didn’t know if he could tell Aziraphale, he didn’t think he could, or should. He didn’t know how the angel might take the news that Crowley had bonded with an omega. 

All things considered, he thought it best not to tell Aziraphale, to keep it a secret for now. There was no particular reason the angel should need to know yet after all. Things could go on as they had before, the Arrangement, the occasional hanging out together. All Crowley had to do was keep his head down, pay an occasional visit to Celeste as needed, and that was it. At least it would make his ruts more bearable in future as well, having a friend with benefits to ease his frustrations. 

Aziraphale looked up in surprise as the bell above the bookshop door tinkled. The door was locked this time of night, which meant it could only be Crowley, to whom a locked door wasn’t an issue, especially as the bookshop appeared to recognise his approach and allow him in without question. “Crowley!” he called out in delight. “Whatever brings you here?”

The demon stalked into the study and collapsed down onto the sofa in an untidy sprawl. “Just seeing how you’re doing, I got your message that you were feeling ok again. Same here.” He watched as Aziraphale stepped over and handed him a glass of wine. “Thanks.”

“So you’ve been up to no good, I take it?” the angel joked. Crowley flinched then remembered himself. Aziraphale couldn’t know, it was just how they talked between them sometimes, it didn’t mean anything, it was paranoia, that’s all. 

“Mmmph, just the usual work, curses and temptations, been busy,” Crowley muttered with a shrug. Aizraphale looked at him strangely. He knew Crowley well enough after all this time to read his expressions like a book. He’d hit a nerve somehow, Crowley was uncomfortable about something. 

“Anything you wanted to talk about?” Aziraphale enquired gently, sipping at his wine. Crowley shrugged and curled his lip. 

“Nah.”

Aziraphale nodded and drank more wine. If Crowley wanted to tell him, he would in his own time.

* * *

“So you didn’t tell him?” Celeste was stroking Crowley’s back gently as he lay on her, sated. 

“I couldn’t. I can’t find the words. I don’t think he needs to know yet. It’s not like we’re together, and it might just push him further away, if he thinks I’m already taken, that I might not want him.” Crowley paused. “...I don’t know. I can’t pin it down, but it might hurt him more to know right now.”

She nodded. “Take as much time as you need. I’m sure you’ll find the right way to tell him eventually.” She kissed him tenderly. “I can see how much you love him. You’ll find a way.”

Crowley smiled, then laid his head on her shoulder and drifted off to sleep, content.

They’d occasionally spend a bit of social time together outside of their heats. Not dates, just friendship, but it was a strange dynamic, especially to outsiders. To most alphas they scented like a bonded couple, but their body language wasn’t quite right. They hung out on rare occasions, but there was none of the close hand holding and obvious affection. 

This of course led to some altercations from time to time, when another alpha, unsure of their status, decided to take a chance at Celeste in Crowley’s presence. 

It didn’t matter that Celeste wasn’t who Crowley  _ loved _ , she was still  _ his,  _ she belonged to him and him alone. The demon’s powerful alpha instincts could not allow anyone else to come close to her. If the low threatening growl deep in his chest didn’t alert the interloper to his mis-step, then a snarl exposing his overly sharp teeth was generally a sufficient deterrent. Once or twice though the other alpha hadn’t taken the hint, and underestimated Crowley’s status, thinking they could challenge him. His snakebite fast reflexes, powerful if wiry musculature and viciously sharp fangs made him a formidable opponent. 

Alpha fights were not rare, but at least with Crowley involved they were generally brief, as he defended his omega with single minded determination, sending the opponent away bloodied and bruised but intact. On the whole though, Celeste thought it best that they not continue to hang out together too much outdoors, to reduce the incidence of her alpha feeling the need to protect her. His mark was enough for her to deter them on her own generally, it was just Crowley’s hormones that pushed him into an aggressive protectiveness around others.

* * *

A couple of years elapsed. Wiles were thwarted, demonic blessings occasionally dispensed, angelic temptations carried out, the world kept on spinning. At least for now…

Celeste looked up sharply at the sound of a key in the lock then Crowley walked in, on edge. She wasn’t expecting him this week. “You ok, Crowley?” She’d dropped the ‘Anthony’ very early on when he’d let her know he preferred Crowley. He slumped down onto her sofa and shook his head, his long hair half tied up. He looked exhausted. 

“Not really. Something’s come up. Shit’s hit the fan, we’re all going to hell in a handbasket, probably.” He laughed a short, bitter, humourless laugh. “Bad news comes in picnic baskets, apparently.” He looked up at Celeste, staring at him strangely. He sighed. “Grab a seat, this is going to take some explaining.”

She settled down on the sofa next to him, one hand on his thigh comfortingly. “Is it about Aziraphale?”

Crowley laughed again. “No. Well, yes. Yes and no. Both of us, all of us, everybody, everywhere, all the kingdoms of the earth, as the saying goes. No one is exempt.” He looked into her eyes. “Not to be trite, but the end of the world is nigh. Armageddon is coming and I’ve been roped into it. We’ve got a bit of time, about 11 years, but after that, there’ll be nothing left but a puddle of burning goo. Last great battle between heaven and hell, the whole lot. Doomed.”

Celeste sat there in shock. “Is there anything you can do to stop it?”

The demon gave a weak smile. “Maybe. We’re working on it, me and Aziraphale, that is. It’ll mean I’m away a lot more, I’ll have to go undercover for a few years. I’ve got a new job, like a regular human job on the face of it, but I’ll have days off, I’ll still be able to drop by now and then, but probably not as often as I can now. I’ll make sure to take leave when you’re in heat though, don’t worry, my employers will understand.”

“Is it dangerous, being undercover?”

“Not really, hell knows I’m doing it, they just don’t know the real reason I’m doing it. They think it’s to help them, it’s not. Our plan involves trying to save everything else, not heaven or hell. Aziraphale will be undercover there as well.”

Celeste smiled and hugged him. “At least you two will be able to spend more time together then?” Crowley smiled back and stroked her arm, then buried his face in her soft hair, breathing deep of her comforting omega scent for a moment. 

“Yeah, we’ll have to work together. I can’t guarantee it’ll work. It’s a long shot, but it’s the only chance we’ve got. We’ll have to put contingency plans in place for… if it all goes pear shaped.” He looked at her seriously. “If it all goes wrong, everyone is going to die. I can pull some strings in hell for you, try to make sure you’re not lumped in with the other tortured souls. I might be able to wrangle it that you’ll be made a lesser demon instead, maybe even a succubus if that’s what you want. At least that way you’ll have some freedom. I don’t know yet what I can do, but I’ll find out, ok?”

Celeste had come to terms with the fact she was going to hell, after all she had straight-up fucked a demon. She was pretty sure that heaven didn’t approve of that kind of thing, but on the other hand, she knew that Crowley would be able to protect her down there anyway. What he hadn’t told her was that if he got found out, he wouldn’t be down there with her, he’d be destroyed. He didn’t think it wise to fill her in on that eventuality. Plan for the worst and hope for the best. 

“Anyway,” Crowley sighed. “You up for a bit of stress relief? I could do with it after the week I’ve had.” The human trailed her hand down his hard body and pressed a kiss to his neck. “Always,” she whispered with a smile.

* * *

Harriet was irritated. “You need a week off, Ms Ashtoreth? May I ask why? It really is most inconvenient. I’m terribly busy right now and…” Crowley raised one perfect eyebrow and cut across her sharply. 

“Too busy to spend some time with your own son, Mrs Dowling?” She snipped at the irritating beta. Harriet paused, mouth open, then closed her mouth again into a thin, tight line, ashamed but not wishing to pursue the subject further. 

“Of course not,” she snapped. “A week then, I’m sure Brother Francis can spend some time with Warlock while I’m busy, he does seem good with him. You may go.”

Ms Ashtoreth smiled without warmth, turned on her heel and stalked out with a curt nod. Back in the car, she shook out her corporation with a shudder into a more masculine form again. Crowley inspected his phone, and was about to compose a text reply when Aziraphale was knocking on the car window. “Crowley?” he wound the window down. 

“ _ What _ , Aziraphale? I’ve got places to be.” he immediately felt bad at his abrupt tone. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so sharp, Angel. What’s up?” Crowley was on edge, Celeste was waiting for him, no doubt getting more frantic as time passed, this one had come on suddenly, and he had promises to keep. 

“Where are you going? Mrs Dowling just told me you were taking a sudden week off. It can’t be a death in the family, let’s face it, it’s not like you’ve got a sick grandmother to take care of. What’s wrong? Are we in danger?”

Crowley pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “ _ No _ , Aziraphale, everything is fine, it’s just a personal issue, ok? Something I have to take care of. Nothing you need to worry about.”

“Personal? You’re a demon, Crowley. Your only job right now is  _ this _ , what else is there that could need doing? Mrs Dowling wants  _ me  _ to babysit Warlock on my own,  _ me _ , Crowley. I’ve not done this without your help before.” The angel looked pained at the prospect. Crowley rolled his eyes theatrically behind his shades. 

“You’ll be  _ fine _ , Aziraphale. And yes, contrary to what you think, I  _ do  _ have a personal life, I do have private things that need to be done sometimes. This is one of them, and if you don’t mind, it’s kind of time critical, so I need to get gone. I’ll be back in a few days, relax.” He rolled up the window again and started the engine, driving off as the angel stood gawping.

* * *

Crowley could smell her from over a mile away and the scent caused his own lust to spike alarmingly as he drove closer. He could feel her urgent need and cursed for not getting there quicker. He screeched to a halt and was yanking his jacket off even as he got through the door, unbuttoning his waistcoat and flinging it aside before she was on him, desperate and clawing, kisses fierce and her scent intoxicating. Crowley peeled off his shirt and unbuckled his belt with fumbling fingers. 

Celeste was only in a dressing gown to start with, she cast it off as Crowley shoved his skin tight jeans down then grabbed her by the thighs and hoisted her up the wall, his breath hot on her neck as he plunged into her with savage thrusts. His lip curled in feral expression of need, licking and biting at her neck as his breath came in fevered short gasps. Celeste cried out with each deep thrust as he pounded her against the wall, fingers gripping her thighs hard enough to bruise, her legs wrapped around his lean torso. It wasn’t long before she came with shuddering moans and Crowley wasn’t far behind, grunting his release into her, shaking, hot and sweaty. He rested his head against her shoulder and tried to regain his breath, heart hammering. 

Crowley stood a little straighter, still holding his partner up, adjusted his grip and carried her through to the sofa in the lounge, shifting uncomfortably until he could lay her down, himself still on top of her, locked together, to relax a little. She kissed his neck tenderly as he carried her. “I was so worried you wouldn’t come” she whispered. Crowley stroked her hair and kissed her cheek soothingly as he laid her down. “Of course I wouldn’t do that to you. I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner, but you know I’d never leave you alone when you need me. I promised.”

They lay entwined as his knot subsided and his frustrations from the previous weeks ebbed away. He’d been working in close proximity to Aziraphale and it was driving him mad with desire, which had been making him irritable with the restraint of not being able to do as he truly desired with the angel. Crowley buried his face in her soft warm skin and closed his eyes with contentment, his muscles relaxing, then drew a long contented breath and went boneless in her arms. She skimmed gentle hands over his back and hummed gently as she felt the demon drift to sleep in her embrace. 

A while later, Crowley roused and slid out carefully, remaining wrapped around his partner. He relished the closeness of touch, and although he’d had access to it on demand for a few years now, it was still a pleasant novelty to him. Not something that demons were used to, not something they could typically get, a feeling of safeness and comfort in a warm embrace. 

Sure, he’d had plenty of sex, with thousands of humans, but it was just a job, it was never anything more, never more than a few hours of fun at most. He wondered as always how it would feel with Aziraphale, to be able to twine around him, perhaps even in his snake form, to be in contact with that warm soft body in as many places as possible, to touch him all over and be touched, to be held and caressed, to feel loved. This wasn’t love, it was caring, fondness even, but not love, it could never be love. But it was close enough for now. 

Crowley gazed up at Celeste and considered her carefully. He had grown fond of her, she’d given him something he’d never had before, and he wanted to give something more back, even if he wasn’t quite sure what. During the course of the Arrangement he’d grown proficient at miracles and blessings for the angel, and would dispense the occasional helping blessing when needed, to ensure Celeste’s life ran relatively smoothly. She didn’t have to struggle as much as other humans might have, he made sure nothing really disastrous happened to her. She was comfortably off, happy in her job, secure. He’d helped her move into a house as an upgrade from her small flat.

Crowley figured that was the least he could do in return for her not being able to have a relationship with anyone. The friends with benefits sex aside, he hoped it was enough. He drifted off again, feeling safe and secure in her arms.

He woke again a little while later, feeling her writhe underneath him, her heat demanding more attention, and felt his cock twitch and respond automatically to the omega’s needs. Giving a contented growl he mounted her once more, sinking home with a sigh, then moving their bodies together slowly. He pressed close, breathing her tantalising scent which provoked his alpha instincts. Crowley picked up the pace and thrust harder, muscles rippling, her beautiful moans music to his ears. He wanted to wrest more gorgeous sounds from her lips. He reached out to grab a sofa cushion, then pulled back slightly, grabbed her hips and hoisted her up, shoving the cushion underneath her lower back and lifting her to a new angle so he could better hit that sweet spot.

It seemed to have the desired result as her moans became insensible whimpers and keening noises, and as he plunged into her harder, his hands gripping her thighs tightly, drawing rapturous screams from her. Crowley was dizzy with his own pleasure, feeling his knot building again with an inevitability that he chased after greedily, slamming into her hard until he felt them lock together once more, shuddering and coming together. He never tired of this, not just because his corporation could do this as often as he damn well told it to, but because he couldn’t experience this with anyone else, not this level of intimacy. At least not until he could have the angel for himself. For now this was as close as he’d get, and he’d take all she was willing to give in the angel’s stead. 

He collapsed forward onto her a second time with a shiver and a laugh. “We should probably have moved up to the bedroom after the first time.” he commented drily. “This could be a long week and I don’t want you to be stuck on the sofa for all of it.” Celeste squeezed him affectionately. 

“Good plan, that man.” 

Crowley heard her stomach rumble. “When did you last eat?” he asked, concerned. He knew that when omegas were in heat, they could forget to partake of food because their lust was too much in control. True, it happened to alphas as well, but it had never bothered him personally, given that his serpent aspect meant he could happily go weeks without eating. Not to mention he technically didn’t need it as a demon anyway. He would sometimes gorge himself then take to bed for a few days to sleep it off like the snake he was. He worried about his human though. She wouldn’t make it through the next few days with enough energy if she didn’t remember to take at least occasional sustenance. 

Celeste shrugged at his question. “Can’t remember, was too distracted thinking about you for the past two days. I might have had some soup yesterday maybe? I forget.” Crowley rumbled in disapproval. 

“You know what I tell you every time, get some supplies in, set a reminder on your phone or something, I don’t want you dropping a kilo or two again like last time.” He bit gently at her soft breast and winked at her playfully. “I need something to get my teeth into, after all, only one of us should be all bony, I need something cushiony to lie on.”

Celeste wrapped her arms around him a little tighter. “Fine, I’ll have something to eat in a bit, but only if you do too. You’re like cuddling a bag full of coathangers.”

Crowley snorted in derision. “‘M a demon, I don’t ‘cuddle’. Demons don’t  _ ‘cuddle’ _ . This is just me demonically stealing your body heat, that’s all. I’m being fiendish.” Celeste giggled and kissed his forehead. 

“Of course you don’t, big scary demon like you. Just another wily temptation.” Crowley grinned and nuzzled his face into her pillowy bosom again making happy little noises.

“‘S right, an’ don’t you forget it” he mumbled into her skin.

The next few days were a contented haze of sex - soft and hard, frantic and leisurely, every few hours around the clock. Occasionally Crowley would leave Celeste sleeping and go to cook something for her, sharing a few bites himself to encourage her to eat when all she really wanted was to be taken again. He made sure there was always a bottle of water in reach wherever she was with a simple miracle, and laid her back in the bathtub to wash her hair and help her relax in between sessions. As her heat broke, and their pairings became more infrequent, she returned the favour, treating Crowley to a soothing massage, and washing his hair, in thanks for the attention he lavished on her. 

Celeste was brushing Crowley’s hair out for him and idly plaiting it as she sat behind him. Crowley sighed and leaned back against her, running his hand up to his hair thoughtfully. “I’ve been thinking of cutting it short…” he murmured. Celeste wrapped her arms around him from behind and laid her chin on his shoulder. 

“Might look nice,” she agreed. “Anything looks good on you though.” Crowley grinned.

“Even thisssss?” he hissed, slipping into his serpentine form, twining around her in a hug and then morphing back into his humanoid form again and retaking his original position. She kissed his cheek. 

“Of course, I did say  _ anything _ .” Crowley tipped his head back on her shoulder and closed his eyes, relishing the contact. He never got to be so very much himself around anyone except Aziraphale, but even then he never dared reach for the physical contact. He’d begun to grow used to it at regular intervals. 

“If you’re ok now, I’m going to have to get back to work in the morning I’m afraid. Apocalypse to avert and all that.” He sank down in her lap and looked up at her mischievously. “One more round before I go though?” 

Celeste bit her lip and slid a hand down his naked chest. “You know I would never say no.”

* * *

Aziraphale heard the crunch of the Bentley’s wheels on gravel near his little gardener’s cottage at the back of the property early the next morning with relief. The demon was back again. He placed his book aside and stepped out to intercept Crowley. He watched as Crowley stepped from the car, shaking himself back into Nanny Ashtoreth as he did. She noticed Aziraphale watching her with a nod. “Everything ok, Aziraphale?”

The angel nodded. “You were right, it wasn’t that bad. I read Warlock The Wind in the Willows, he seemed to rather enjoy it, although he did ask if you might take him for a ride in the Bentley like Mister Toad because he wants to go fast.” He followed after the demon as Nanny stalked up the gravel path toward the big house. “We’re running out of time, we only have a few years left. How sure are you about all this anyway?”

Nanny Ashtoreth didn’t stop walking. “As sure as I can be, this is the only idea I’ve got, Angel, unless you’ve got anything better?” Aziraphale shook his head. 

“I just hope you’re right about all of this. Did you deal with your personal issue, then?” Damnit the angel was too curious. Nanny Ashtoreth stopped and turned to meet his gaze. There was a silent pause. Aziraphale thought he could see some kind of conflicted yearning flicker briefly across her face as she looked at him. 

“... For now, yes.” She turned on her heel and continued on toward the house, her mind whirling. She yearned to tell the angel that all she really wanted was him, all she hoped for was to be able to bond with him, but she couldn’t do any of it. Especially not now, where it might jeopardise the entire plan. If Crowley made a move on Aziraphale and the angel ran away, then that’d leave Nanny Ashtoreth raising the antichrist on her own without the balancing angelic influence. It couldn’t be risked. Tears pricked at her eyes as she entered the house and strode straight to her room to compose herself before getting back to work again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *So whilst initially Crowley would occasionally try to accompany Celeste outside the house on rare occasions, they quickly realised that it was not a good idea as he got too protective of her, so they've decided not to continue that and stick strictly to friends with benefits. It took them a little while at first to find out what the basis for their friendship would be, through trial and error.


	4. Needing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tensions between Aziraphale and Crowley come to a head when someone harasses Aziraphale and Crowley defends him. Celeste tries to encourage Crowley to bond with his angel, and Crowley becomes more stressed as Warlock's 11th birthday comes ever closer. Everyone knows the stakes are high as imminent armageddon looms over them all. 
> 
> There'll be a big dose of angst in this one, but it will get better next chapter. 
> 
> Yet again, the canon material is happening normally, this is all the background stuff behind the scenes.

A few months later they met in St. James’s Park to discuss progress a little easier than they could at work. Crowley strode up to find Aziraphale already seated on the bench reading a book. The angel looked up and did a double take in surprise. “You cut your hair!” Crowley ran his hands through the short red locks and shrugged.

* * *

* * *

“Fancied a change, y’don’t like it?” He looked concerned. 

“No, no, I didn’t say that, I’ll get used to it. You do so like to keep with the times I suppose. It’s rather nice really.” Aziraphale beamed at the handsome alpha, a little flame of desire licking deep inside. There was something extra alluring about Crowley, he drew in a breath and realised what it was. There was just a tinge, a suggestion, of a stronger musky smell building. Crowley must be due to come into rut again soon. The thought made the angel shiver with lust. Crowley must have detected something because he looked at him strangely, tongue flicking briefly between his lips. 

“Probably better make this quick, I think I’ll be needing a bit of alone time shortly” Crowley remarked. He could taste the angel’s arousal on the air, and it was not helping his situation at all. He could hold himself in check for now, but he was starting to feel uncomfortable. He was getting tetchy, snarling or snapping at other alphas who came too close to him on the street, and making rather too much hard eye contact with omegas. Aziraphale wasn’t in heat at the moment, but when Crowley was in rut, that didn’t matter much. It just wasn’t as catastrophic as when they both were at once. When it was only one of them it was at least easier to control. 

Aziraphale set his book aside. “We’ve a year left before…” He winced and Crowley cut in. 

“... before the shit hits the fan, yes, I know, Aziraphale. A year before uncertain doom. As far as I can tell, we’ve done everything we can. The boy is as normal as can be expected. My side are still in the dark, yours?”

The angel shrugged. “They still don’t seem to care much either way. It’s like they’re indulging me, telling me I’ll fail and that that’s all ok. They _want_ a war. They actually _want_ it, Crowley.” He looked desperately at the demon, seeking reassurance. He desperately wanted Crowley to take charge, to tell him it’d all be ok, to be his alpha and protect him from it all somehow. But he couldn’t put voice to any of those feelings, and it pained him. 

What if armageddon came and he never got the chance to tell Crowley how he felt, if he never got to feel what those sinful lips felt like on his own, or those long skilled fingers caressing his skin? He gazed longingly at those self same lips for a long moment before he realised he was staring and looked away sharply, embarrassed. Crowley gave him a long, steady gaze, one eyebrow lifted slightly. The soulful gaze had not escaped his notice, and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the implication.

They were interrupted as another alpha approached the bench, a guy in his 40s who eyed Aziraphale with thinly veiled appreciation in his eyes. Crowley’s hackles bristled and a low growl began to rumble deep in his chest. He was too close to his rut to put up with any of this right now, and his protective instincts over Aziraphale were beginning to peak. He was always protective of the angel regardless, but right now the feeling was far stronger and he was quick to anger. 

“Oh, hello,” the stranger addressed Aziraphale directly. “Are you together?” Aziraphale gaped for an answer, it had to be no, they were supposed to be strangers, they weren’t supposed to know each other, and in relation to other context, neither were they bonded, but then the other alpha knew that already, as Aziraphale’s omega scent was distinctly single. He stepped closer with a smile, deigning to ignore Crowley, but that was not going to fly. 

Aziraphale tensed, he knew that Crowley wouldn’t allow this human to get any closer, especially when his protective instincts were starting to build along with his hormones, he tried to cringe back into the bench, hearing the demon’s growl building. 

“Get lossst” Crowley hissed, his jaw tense, and fists clenched so tight that his nails dug into his palms. The other alpha looked at him frankly. 

“Why? He’s not yours. He’s not marked.”

“Not marked doesn’t mean available.” Crowley growled with a threatening snarl, rising fluidly to his feet in one smooth motion, every muscle tense. He was glaring directly at the impudent human. A group of betas nearby noticed the two facing up for an alpha fight and made themselves scarce. Aziraphale’s eyes darted around nervously, he couldn’t even see any police around in the park, not that a mere human police officer would have any hope of restraining Crowley, but they could at least put a stop to the human. 

“I’ll talk to him if I want to. If you want him you should have marked him,” the human retorted, squaring up, fists clenched, stepping closer to Crowley, whose aura was beginning to glow a dark and dangerous red, not that the human would be able to see that, but all of them could smell the potent alpha pheromones in the air foretelling of an altercation building. 

“He is not a fucking _possession_ ,” Crowley hissed dangerously. “He belongs to nobody but himself until he decides otherwise, so you can fuck _right_ off.”

“Make me, you skinny fucking twink.”

Aziraphale’s eyes went wide in fear. “Crowley, _no_ , please…”

It was too late, the demon snarled and leapt at the human, who lashed out with a viciously strong blow that struck Crowley in the head and sent him sprawling. He bared his teeth, now inhumanly sharp. He deftly flicked onto all fours then launched again, barrelling into the other alpha by headbutting him in the midsection, punching a startled “oof” from the human as they went down in a tangled mess of limbs. Crowley was clawing and biting as the human punched and kicked wildly. 

Aziraphale was relieved to see that at least in the overwhelming primalness of the reaction, Crowley wasn’t reverting to demonic miracles to harm the human, and instead was in plain old fight mode much as the other alpha was, albeit with sharper teeth, and what appeared to be manifested claws. Still, at least he hadn’t just snapped the human somewhere dreadful or turned him into something. Nonetheless, the angel had to intervene before the human got seriously injured. 

“Crowley, _stop_!” he yelled, and grabbed for the demon, using his considerable strength to try to haul him off the other alpha. Both of them were growling like a pair of feral tomcats. He succeeded in managing to drag Crowley off the human, still hissing and enraged. The human was covered in bites and scratches, which wasn’t unusual for an alpha fight, although uninterrupted, alphas could fight to the death, especially if the omega they were brawling over was in heat, which fortunately Aziraphale was not. 

Crowley was bruised and bleeding, but in far better shape than the human was, as his viciously long fangs had caused deep lacerations and he was bleeding freely. Crowley was still struggling to get free to destroy the other alpha who had threatened his angel, so Aziraphale did the only thing he could think of. He held Crowley tight and snapped the pair of them back to the bookshop away from the situation. 

They landed, sprawled together on the floor of the shop, breathing hard. Crowley was briefly confused, looking around for the aggressor, teeth still bared in a savage snarl before he realised what had happened. He struggled to free himself, but Aziraphale held him fast in an iron grip. The angel was suddenly finding himself holding an extremely hyped up and potent alpha that he’d been lusting after for millennia, whose fevered body was now crushed close to his own, writhing against him, and he didn’t know what to do, except that he didn’t want to let go. 

“Hush, please, Crowley, he’s gone, we’re ok, _I’m_ ok, you protected me, thank you, but you can calm down now, dear.” Crowley stilled and tried to wriggle around in Aziraphale’s grasp, now suddenly feeling the same confusion of emotions at being held tight against the beautifully soft body of the angel, and his hormones _surged_ in a sudden spike of urgent lust. 

“FUCK! _NO_ ! Aziraphale, let me go, you’ve got to let me go, right now. I’ve got to get away. I can’t _be_ here with you like this.” He was desperate, he couldn’t risk being this close to the angel in his current state or he’d tip over into a full blown rut and he didn’t know how strong he could be to resist. His eyes met Aziraphale’s, which were strangely calm, and intense. He’d lost his shades somewhere in the brawl, and his own eyes were blown wide in his arousal, just a thin circle of gold around his black pupils. He breathed hard and froze, uncertain. 

“Crowley… where do you go when you're in rut? How do you deal with it?”

“What? What kind of fucking question is _that_ , Aziraphale? Let _go_ , I have to leave, _now_.” He growled the last word in a deep, forceful growl, trying to order the omega to obey him, but Aziraphale was no ordinary omega, he was an angel, and a Principality at that. You don’t get to be an omega for 6,000 years on earth unbonded without having some serious power of your own. 

“Tell me. Who do you spend it with?”

“No! Let me _go_!”

“Why?”

“Because if you don’t then it’s going to be _you_ , Aziraphale!” Crowley screamed, then froze, eyes wide, realising what he’d just said. An icy block of terror sank through his body and his mind raced. 

“Would that be so terrible?” Aziraphale whispered, hurt.

“...No.” a pause. “Yes. No. I don’t fucking _know_ , Aziraphale.” He took a deep breath. “I won’t let you fall,” he whispered, tears welling up in his eyes. 

Aziraphale stared at him, finally understanding what had stopped him all this time. “You don’t _know_ that it would.”

“And _you_ don’t know it _wouldn’t_!”

Their faces were inches from each other, Aziraphale’s mouth open slightly, eyes yearning, searching Crowley’s expression for anything that would give him the answer he wanted. Crowley looked tortured, and terrified. It took Aziraphale a moment to realise that the demon was terrified for _him_. “Crowley, I need to know, if the world is going to end, I need to know.”

“Neither of us fucking know, Angel!”

“Not that, I need to know what it feels like.”

“What feels like?”

“This.” Aziraphale kissed him. 

Crowley tensed, terrified. He allowed the kiss for a moment, marvelling at it, but panicking internally, he drew back, shaking his head. “No, Aziraphale you mustn’t, we can’t, I can’t do that to you. I’ll taint you, you’ll _fall_.” 

It _wasn’t_ an “I don’t love you,” it wasn’t an “I don’t _want_ you,” it was “we can’t.” It was fear, but it was love. 

It was Crowley confessing that he loved Aziraphale too much to risk him falling. Suddenly Aziraphale could taste that love, surrounding him completely, and for the first time he realised what the source of it was, had always been. It was Crowley. Loving him without words. 

He could also feel the fear. Crowley was terrified. Crowley was crying. Appalled, Aziraphale released him abruptly and recoiled. “Crowley, I’m so sorry, I should never have done that to you.”

Crowley stood on shaking legs, staring at Aziraphale still sitting on the floor. The angel stared up at him, and couldn’t fail to notice the hardness in Crowley’s jeans, a direct response to having been held against his body, and his face flushed in response to the sight. He had caused that. He’d also caused something else, a rift. He didn’t know how to fix it, but he had to. He had to try to think fast. 

“Please, forgive me, Crowley, I shouldn’t have put you in that situation, I’m sorry. What can I do?”

Crowley was trying to think, his breath ragged. “I can’t do this, Angel. I can’t do this now. I have to go, I can’t be around you right now. Just…” He shook his head. “...I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

Without another word, he was striding from the bookshop and away. 

Every instinct in his body was screaming at him, his iron grip on his self control so rigid it was almost painful, he felt like he was going to crack, and then shatter into a million pieces. His body wanted to turn around, stride back into the bookshop and crush the angel to him again, to kiss him until neither of them could think of anything else, then take him, make love to him and mark him, own him forever, damn the consequences. 

Then he thought of the burning. The falling, the pain, the harsh tearing as his grace was ripped from his very soul, the pain of the hellfire consuming him and blackening his wings, the boiling sulphur, the screaming, but above all the pain, the pain that had lasted for so long he couldn’t even think any more. And he knew he’d rather die than let that happen to Aziraphale. He bit his cheek until the copper bright taste of blood flooded his mouth and forced himself to carry on back toward Mayfair, to the Bentley parked there, trying to hold it together. 

He fumbled for his phone and fired off a text. “I’m coming, It’s bad, I need you ready, I’m sorry but it’s not going to be gentle, I need you.” A moment later, his phone pinged a reply.

“You know I don’t mind rough, I’m here for you, door’s unlocked.”

He reached the Bentley and leapt in, gunning the throttle he charged off. His phone started ringing, he glanced at the screen. Aziraphale. He hit the answer button on the stereo for handsfree. “Crowley, where are you?”

* * *

* * *

The demon rolled his eyes and snarled. “I’m on my way to take care of it, Aziraphale, I need some space, you _know_ that.”

“Can’t we talk about this? I owe you a proper apology.”

“It will have to wait, Aziraphale. You know I can’t be around you right now. I’ll be back in a few days. If you want to help, you can explain to the Dowlings why I’m not there. I’m sure they can deal without me for a few days.” He was too on edge, too fucking aroused to think of anything else right now except his rut and dealing with it. He needed to fuck, he needed to mate someone, and the only creature he felt safe with right now was a certain human who reminded him of a certain angel. She was already marked so it wasn’t like he could make it any worse, which he could with an unmarked human. So she was the only safe choice nowadays during his rut. He could let go without fear of consequence. 

“Look, Aziraphale, I’m sorry too, but we need to deal with this later, not now. You know I can’t think straight right now. I’ll talk to you when I get back.”

* * *

* * *

True to her word, Celeste was ready for him. Laid out on the bed expectantly. She’d warmed herself up with a little self pleasure first to ensure that Crowley could come straight in and take what he needed. He charged in and didn’t even bother about undressing the human way. She knew what he could do, he didn’t need to hide his nature. He snapped his clothes away in an instant and fell on top of her where she lay, plunging deep inside in one savage stroke, then hammering into her hard and fast, grunting with every thrust, biting indiscriminately and clutching at her soft skin. She screamed out in pleasure at the sensations, and in no time he was knotting her, pulsing deep inside with his teeth locked into her neck again as she cried out her own orgasm under him. 

Crowley untensed with a long exhalation and melted down into her arms. “I’m sorry,” he breathed, licking at her neck to soothe it again. She stroked his short hair and shook her head. 

“You know you don’t need to apologise, Crowley. You’re here for me, I’m here for you, that’s how this deal works, remember? You know I like it rough, you didn’t do anything I haven’t begged you to a hundred times before, and I told you before you even got here I was ready for you. You’re fine.” She kissed him slowly. “Sleep now, I’ll still be here for you when you need more.”

Crowley shook his head slowly. “He kissed me.”

Her eyes widened in shock. “Aziraphale?”

Crowley nodded. 

“Well why the fuck are you _here_?” she exclaimed in confusion. “Get back there and take him!”

“I can’t risk it. I can’t mark him, I can’t risk him Falling.”

“Did he Fall when you kissed him?”

“What? No! And he kissed _me_ , I didn’t start it.”

“Well doesn’t that mean anything? Surely if it was love that could cause it, then a kiss might have triggered it?”

“I don’t _know_ , Celeste, neither of us do, _no one_ does, except for Her, and she’s not fucking saying anything, no fucking clues from that quarter. We have to find out for ourselves, and I’d rather not find out by actually dooming the one person in this universe that I love to eternal damnation.”

“You really think that She’d punish you for love?”

Crowley stared at her for a long moment. He looked down. 

“I wouldn’t put anything past Her. She cast me out for asking fucking questions. I still don’t know why. It’s all fucking ineffable, none of us are ever meant to understand, that’s how it works.”

Celeste saw the tears well up in his eyes, then one over spilled and trickled down his cheek. Her own eyes began to brim in sympathy. “I’m sorry, Crowley.”

“Don’t be. If I can’t understand it after all this time, a human hasn’t got a hope.” He buried his face in her shoulder and she kissed his head, then stroked his back gently as she felt his tears wet her skin in quiet sobs.

“I need him.”

“I know.”

After the initial savagery, Crowley’s mating was less urgent, softer and more caring. They never thought of it as ‘love making’, that was one of the boundaries they’d put in place at the beginning. Likewise the term ‘lover’ never crossed their lips or consciousness either. But it didn’t mean that they couldn’t care. Crowley could be the epitome of tenderness, his touch could be gentler than one imagined a demon could be capable of. Celeste lay back and let him imagine, let him pretend she was someone else. She held him in between their pairings, murmured platitudes into his ear and kissed him gently, until he’d worked out whatever it was he needed to.

* * *

Aziraphale hadn’t mentioned the incident again after all, save for an apology that both understood despite not referring directly to what had happened. Crowley shook his head dismissively, wanting to avoid the subject altogether. 

They had a year left, and he tried to make the most of it. He spent more time with the angel, indulged him in trips to restaurants, theatres, museums, art galleries and book auctions. He tried to keep things as platonic as possible despite his heart tearing up inside with the effort of reining in his devotion for Aziraphale. 

He knew he couldn’t admit it. He knew the stakes were too high. The angel could feel love anyway, maybe he could feel Crowley’s and he didn’t need to say anything. He was cautious when they’d go back to the bookshop and get drunk together, wary not to drink too much lest his mask slip and he confess it all and ruin everything. He’d managed this for six thousand years for fuck’s sake, he could manage a few more months. 

If they managed to avert the end of the world, well… then he’d see. Maybe they could work something out, but deep down, he feared that there wouldn’t be anything left of them to do so. Ultimately the choice came down to save the world, or confess his love to Aziraphale. He’d rather save the world _and_ his angel, than risk rejection and lose the world to boot.

* * *

A year had elapsed, with Crowley growing ever more tense about the impending 11th birthday for Warlock and what it might portend. He felt helpless, but could do nothing but forge on and hope for the best. All the plans had been laid, all he could do was roll with the punches and see what transpired. Aziraphale was going to do his ridiculous magic act and refused to be talked out of it, the kids were going to eat him alive. Crowley decided to join the catering crew and pose as a waiter. The anxiety was eating him up. What the hell was he going to do if Warlock named the damn dog? He couldn’t fight off a hellhound single handed, even with Aziraphale there it’d be a bloodbath. 

He paced his apartment, unable to sleep, unable to concentrate on anything. The birthday was tomorrow, and he couldn’t rest. Even though he wasn’t in rut and Celeste wasn’t in heat, he still needed a release that only she could safely provide. He grabbed his suit bag for the next day, and the Bentley’s keys from the hook and hurried downstairs, texting her as he went. 

Once through the door, he flicked off his shades, fell into her arms and buried his nose in her neck, breathing deep and just holding her close, feeling her comforting arms wrap around him and helping his stresses melt away. She understood without needing words these days that sometimes he just needed touch and closeness when he was like this. 

“This might be the last time y’know,” he muttered. “Don’t want to scare you, but tomorrow is kind of a deciding day. If it goes right, things might be ok, but if it goes wrong… armageddon might be days away. I’m not going to lie to you. This is bigger than all of us. I’m just one fucking demon against all of heaven and hell with an angel to help me. Just the two of us against all them. I don’t know if I can do it, but I’m going to try, I promise.” 

Celeste stroked his hair and gazed into his eyes reassuringly. “I know, don’t talk about it, I know you’ve been stewing over this, Crowley. Let me do this for you, just try to forget it for tonight.” She kissed him deeply and he felt himself melt into her lips with a sigh. 

“Ok.”

He followed her upstairs and allowed her to undress him slowly, worshipping each bit of his body as it was revealed with reverent hands and lips. He shivered at each electric touch of her skin against his. She slipped out of her jeans and he was gratified to see she wasn’t wearing any panties, she winked at him. “Just for you, thought you’d appreciate the thought that I was hanging around with no knickers on, waiting for you.”

He grinned and yanked her back toward him for another kiss, tongue delving deep. “Damn right I appreciate it,” he growled in her ear as he lifted off her lips. He grabbed at her t-shirt and pulled it over her head before reaching around to undo her bra, freeing her breasts and bending to take a nipple in his mouth and suck on it greedily as he teased the other with his fingers. Celeste cried out in surprise as the sensation seemed to send a bolt of desire straight to her clit and she felt herself get wetter at his touch. He growled against her soft skin, hands possessive on her. “Get on all fours on that bed right _fucking_ now.” 

The omega crawled onto the bed and dragged a couple of pillows under her middle, feeling the mattress shift as the demon crawled up behind her. Crowley knelt there taking in the view, one hand on his stiff cock, stroking its length idly with one hand as his other roamed over her soft plump buttocks. He took in the cascade of blonde hair spilling over the duvet and reached forward to grab a handful of it, his teeth raking along her back as he did so, his cock nudging against the wet lips of her vulva, dripping precome already. She shuddered under his touch and whimpered needily. 

“You’re just so fucking _perfect…_ ” he whispered into her neck, tugging her hair back just roughly enough to wrest a moan from her lips, then sunk his shaft deep inside her in one long slow thrust, bottoming out then pushing extra hard as he yanked her hair back, then reached around her throat with his other hand, stroking down her neck and gripping gently. “Perfect and _mine…_ ” 

Crowley began to thrust into her steadily, one hand still gripping her neck as her head tipped back. He leaned forward and used his other hand in her hair to tug her head sideways so he could capture her lips with his own. The angle was awkward but he didn’t care. He let go again and shifted his grip to her soft hips, continuing to plunge into her, picking up his pace, then reaching down underneath to find her clit with his long fingers, teasing it in firm little circles, grinning as he heard her breath stutter in response. 

The advantage of long arms and hands he guessed, he could still fuck into her easily at the same time as he blew her mind playing with her clit. He hummed with satisfaction. He intended to drive her wild and leave her utterly ravished, at least if the end of the world did begin tomorrow, he’d leave her on a high note, it was the least she deserved. 

She was crying out in short gasps now, little strangled yelps of incoherent pleasure, and he could feel her vagina tightening around his cock beautifully, and his own coordination began to falter at the delicious sensation. He bit his lip and tried to hold on until he’d made her come, he could feel her body beginning to twitch and jerk as she emitted a high pitched wail and came hard around him. Crowley let himself go and grunted as he rammed into her, his cock spasming and jetting his come deep inside, in pulsing waves of pleasure that shook his corporation to its core. 

They lay together after, spooned together, his arm around hers, cradling her cushiony breasts, his nose against her back, nuzzling into her soft skin, his stresses temporarily eased, simply living in the moment, trying not to consider the fact that it may well be their last. He dozed off eventually, and woke with the dawn sending rays of sunlight across the room and his face. 

Crowley blinked in irritation at the bright light, and slid himself free of his omega. She rolled onto her back with a sleepy mumble and he gazed down at her curvaceous form, naked on the bed next to him. He stood with a sigh and wandered through to the ensuite quietly to take a shower. 

Celeste woke a little while later to see Crowley getting dressed in incongruously strange clothing, he had donned a crisply ironed white shirt along with high waisted smart black trousers. He was doing up a long black tie. A short white jacket was hanging up on the wardrobe door. He’d yet to style his short red hair. He caught her gaze as he knotted the tie, his face serious. “It’s going down today, whatever it is,” he said, stiffly. She could see the tension back in his frame again. He was disconnecting, getting his professional face on again, she could sense the distance he was trying to mentally place between them, and understood.

* * *

  
*image manipulation by [florholmesart ](https://twitter.com/Florholmesart/status/1148495517422407680) on twitter. 

* * *

If he allowed himself to think too much about what was at stake he might lose his nerve. She sat up and watched in silence as he buckled on his watch, and did his cufflinks. She knew there wasn’t anything she could say to ease his tension, so she didn’t. 

Crowley styled his hair then shrugged on the tight white jacket. He sniffed and regarded himself in the mirror critically. Finally he turned to regard Celeste still sitting naked on the bed watching him. She bit her lip nervously under his intense scrutiny, as if he were trying to memorise every curve of her body. He stepped toward the bed and sat on the edge of it, reaching out one tender hand to stroke her cheek. She closed her eyes and relaxed into the contact for a moment. 

When she opened them, his slitted golden eyes were inches from hers, his breath warm on her face. He looked uncertain, then kissed her, smiled sadly, rose, and left. 

As she heard the front door close behind him and the Bentley’s engine fire up on the street outside, she broke down into tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be about armageddon, the night after the airbase, and after the holy water and hellfire.


	5. Getting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Armageddon arrives. Crowley and Aziraphale avert disaster (as per the show), then hold hands on a bus back to London. It's time to talk, it's time to love, and it's time to find out how the hell they're going to avoid execution. 
> 
> Then, after holy water and hellfire, Crowley needs to deal with something important before it's too late, because it's not over yet, not by a long chalk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> assume everything you don't see is exactly as per the show, there's no point re-writing things the same as we've already seen.

Celeste’s phone beeped with an incoming message. 

“Shit’s hit the fan, I fucked up. Can’t explain but it’s all gone pear shaped, I’m sorry, we tried, take care of yourself, this is going to be bad. Don’t think I’ll see you in hell, because I don’t think I’ll make it that far. I’m sorry. C.”

She sent a single reply. “I believe in you.” 

And then the world fell apart. 

She watched as it unfolded on the news. The M25, the phenomena, the tornadoes, the lot. 

Somewhere, out there, Crowley and Aziraphale were in trouble, and there was nothing she could do to help.

* * *

Crowley sat in the Enterprise pub, one bottle of Talisker already down, another underway. He stared at his phone and wondered what he could say, if anything, to try to explain the past few hours. 

He couldn’t. 

He’d tried half a dozen times to compose something, but honestly, by this point there were no words that meant anything any more. He typed, then deleted a dozen times in a row then gave up. There was nothing he could summon that could help anything or anyone. She was on her own, they all were. At least she knew why. He didn’t know if that was better or worse. He may have an alpha’s instinct to protect her but he knew that there was no way he could any more. All he could do was leave her in peace to deal with her final hours however she wanted to. As far as she was concerned, Crowley was already dead. Best leave it that way. He picked up his tumbler and downed another glass. 

Aziraphale was gone. 

Gone.

He let out a strangled sob.

And then the lightning crackled overhead, and hope returned.

* * *

The bus rumbled on through the darkness back to London. It shouldn’t have, but it did anyway. Aziraphale’s hand was entwined in his, a comforting warmth. Crowley’s exhaustion was bone deep. He was exhausted, and still afraid. They both knew it wasn’t over. 

But thinking he’d lost Aziraphale today had hammered it home to Crowley, no more missed chances, he had nearly gone to the end of the world without ever confessing his love, he had a reprieve, but he didn’t think it was long. He had been granted a second chance to do the right thing. Even if it meant they only had a few hours left, he knew he had to take it. 

But not here, not on this shuddering uncomfortable bus. For now he just gripped onto the angel’s hand and breathed deep, trying to compose his thoughts, battling the fatigue that plagued his entire corporation despite the fact it shouldn’t really feel tiredness. This fatigue was as much mental as anything else. He couldn’t think any more. 

They stepped from the bus still hand in hand, ascending in the lift together side by side in silence. His heart hammered so rapidly as to be painful in his chest as they approached his front door. They stepped in and he stood, uncertain. Crowley kicked his shoes off one by one and cast his shades aside. Aziraphale watched him quietly, hands still entwined. 

“Crowley?”

Crowley looked at him, exhausted. “I’m sorry Aziraphale.”

“Whatever for? You saved the world, Crowley, you saved everything. You just committed the least selfish act in the history of humanity, it was your idea, Crowley. Yours. A demon.” Aziraphale stared at him, his blue grey stormy eyes intense. “A _demon_ had to persuade an _angel_ of all things, that it was a good idea to save the entire world. I will not have you apologise for that, nor will I hear you say ever again that you are anything but good.”

Crowley hung his head. “That’s not what I meant, but… thanks? I guess?” He took a breath and continued. 

“I’m sorry I pushed you away. I’m sorry I never told you that I loved you, I’m sorry I ever let it get this far without letting you know.”

Aziraphale laughed. “You just stole my line I think.” Crowley looked at him quizzically. Aziraphale reached up a hand to stroke his face. “I’m sorry that _I_ pushed you away, Crowley, I’m sorry _I_ never told you that I loved you, but I do. For so long now, my dear.”

Crowley cried. Then heard a sob and saw that Aziraphale was too. It pained him to see his love breaking like that, so he stepped forward, and finally released the angel’s hand so that he could wrap both arms around his love at last. “No, Angel, please don’t cry. Please my love.” He crushed the angel close, burying his face in his neck as he sobbed, as they sobbed to each other in a mixture of fear and relief. He felt an overwhelming need to protect the omega from everything. He felt like he’d failed miserably so far, and he wasn’t going to let that happen again. 

He pulled back a little and took Aziraphale’s face in both hands. “I’m sorry I ran from you. I promise I won’t do it again.” He pulled the angel into a kiss. At least he knew now that was safe.

Crowley’s mind whirled and his body was afire, their lips met in a passionate crush of perfect softness and slide, tongues seeking and hands in each other’s hair, grasping desperately, unleashing 6,000 years worth of longing in one perfect moment. Aziraphale’s omega scent was overwhelming and Crowley’s hormones surged in response. The angel must have been able to smell it, they broke off and those steely eyes met Crowley’s golden ones with a fierce intensity again. 

“I’m yours, Crowley, make me yours, please. I need you.” He took in the fear that still tinged the alpha’s slitted eyes. “You won’t make me fall. I know that now. If everything we did today didn’t cause Her to cast me down, then us loving each other isn’t either. Trust me, please.”

Crowley nodded. He slid his jacket and waistcoat off, then did the same to Aziraphale. Next he deftly undid the tartan bow tie and slipped it free of the angel’s collar, and undid the buttons of his shirt carefully. Aziraphale reached out and tugged Crowley’s shirt up and over his head, exposing his hard, lean torso with a reverent gasp. The demon stood there as angelic hands skimmed lightly over his chest and abdomen, Aziraphale’s expression dreamlike in wonder. 

The demon pushed Aziraphale’s blue shirt off his shoulders and to the floor, then leaned forward to press soft kisses to his neck and chest, licking and nibbling, savouring his delicious scent as he did so. The angel moaned gently under his ministrations. 

“Please, Crowley, I need you now, my love.” Crowley nodded again and scooped the angel up in his arms, carried him to the bedroom, then laid him on the bed with a kiss. He stood back and slid his tight jeans down and off, almost shaking with the restraint of moving slow, not wanting to scare his angel, or to let himself go and rush. He knew that if he began to move too quickly he wouldn’t be able to stop. He needed to take this slow. Aziraphale undid his own trousers and began to wriggle them down with his underwear. Crowley stooped to help him with a gentle touch. 

He sat back on his knees before his angel laid out before him, taking in the gorgeous sight, beautiful thick thighs begging to be worshipped, thatch of blonde curls between his legs and a delicious vulva beneath. The angel had a beautiful stocky frame of solid muscle with a light padding of softness that he ached to kiss all over, so he began to do so. 

Crowley ran his skilled hands lightly over Aziraphale’s soft skin, breathing deep of that intoxicating scent, kissing, licking, nipping and nibbling in a haze of desire, drunk on the feeling. He could feel the angel’s nervousness and ached to soothe it. He murmured sweet nothings into his flesh with each kiss. “So beautiful… so perfect, you’re divine.. exquisite… amazing… gorgeous Angel….”

Crowley straddled the angel and gazed into his eyes, drinking in his beauty, then kissed him long, deep and slow, melting together, his hardness rubbing against the angel’s thigh with increasing urgency, but he held firm. He wanted to do this right. 

He slithered down the angel’s body and parted his soft thighs, breathing in that heady omega scent rising from Aziraphale’s vulva, his eyes rolling back in his head with the sheer exhilaration of it, then he bent to kiss around those pink petals reverently, and flicked his talented tongue out across his wet folds, drawing a shuddering gasp from the angel. 

Crowley lapped at Aziraphale’s vulva slowly, pressing his tongue deeper, probing and twirling, tasting the invigorating sweetness of it all with relish. He could feel himself beginning to lose control as his alpha body responded to it all in the only way it knew how. Here was an omega begging to be taken, mated and marked. The action of a potent alpha making him aroused like this was also pushing Aziraphale’s body closer to heat. Not enough to be a full blown heat, but close enough as made no difference to Crowley’s sensitive nose and tongue.

Aziraphale was whimpering and squirming at Crowley’s skilled ministrations, crying out so beautifully, his vagina getting wetter and wetter, until he was sobbing with the overwhelming sensations, begging Crowley to take him, _now_ , as Crowley flicked his tongue over Aziraphale’s clit and made him scream out, incoherent. It was enough to trigger his body into an early rut and he almost wanted to scream as well with the sudden glut of hormones raging around his body.

The alpha couldn’t hold back any longer. With a possessive roar he was surging up the omega’s soft body again, his stiff cock nudging at Aziraphale’s entrance insistently. He locked eyes with the angel. “I’m going to take you now, Aziraphale, I’m going to mount you, knot you, I’m going to mate you, mark you, and make you _mine_. Forever.” He hissed with a snarl of desire. 

The angel’s eyes met his own, delirious with want. “Yes. Yours,” he gasped, and clawed at Crowley’s back in desperation. “Please,” he whined. Crowley complied.

He pushed forward between those gorgeous legs, shaking with restraint and trying his best to be gentle. He knew he wasn’t small and the last thing he wanted was to hurt his love. He pushed forward an inch at a time, his forehead pressed to Aziraphale’s shoulder, teeth bared and moaned as he sank deeper, until he had bottomed out. Crowley thought his head was going to explode, it was too much to take in, he could barely draw breath. 

Then Aziraphale’s hands were on his face, pulling them together and the angel’s lips were on his again, urgent and begging. He began to roll his hips, strong arms holding his angel close to his body, not wanting to let go, needing to be in contact with his love in as many places as possible. 

This was nothing like anything he’d felt before. Humans had been fun, sure, then his human omega had been a whole other level unlike any human he’d had, but _this…_ **_this_ **. There were no words for what it was like to make love to an angel. It was an experience like no other and his brain could barely cope with the sheer intensity of it all. 

Because it wasn’t just the physical sensations of skin on skin, the slip and drag of his cock deep inside those warm, wet depths, mere nerve endings were only a tiny part of it. They were celestial beings, even if Crowley’s demonic being was long since corrupted, he was still angelic stock at his core. They wore their human corporations but neither body was truly them. The creatures known as Aziraphale and Crowley existed simultaneously on another plane of reality entirely, their human corporations somewhat akin to puppets being manipulated by them. It was how their wings could be elsewhere and yet still be felt. It didn’t make the humanoid sensations any less, but it did mean that their true forms were also capable of meeting and touching via the medium of flesh as a conduit. 

So when Aziraphale’s soul bled out from beyond the margins of his body and brushed up against Crowley’s, it was like sparks of electricity where they touched, and then merged, melting together on a plane that human eyes could never discern. All around them, their auras melded together, twisting and writhing, colours melting together and caressing each other far deeper than on a mere sexual level. 

Neither had ever experienced controlling a human corporation at the same time as interacting on another ethereal plane, and especially not when that human body was experiencing levels of pleasure that could drive all thoughts out of one’s head at the best of times. Then throw in their amorphous celestial beings swirling together simultaneously, and it was little wonder that neither was capable of speech any more. 

Their bodies were coupling almost on autopilot whilst angel and demon were utterly lost in a maelstrom of sensations, gasping and crying out with every thrust, climbing higher and higher, while their souls flowed between them, Crowley’s melting into Aziraphale’s corporation, and being overwhelmed by being able to feel all of the angel’s sensations at the same time as he could still feel his own. He was both filling and being filled, both at the same time, and he knew that Aziraphale, whose soul was also seeping into his body, was in the same boat. Each could feel the other’s orgasm approaching as well as their own, the two sets of sensations was not something that any human would ever be able to experience or get their mind around. 

Crowley felt his knot building and Aziraphale yelped out at the sensation as it grew, until the alpha couldn’t withdraw any more, they were tied together, screaming out at the pleasure of it all in unison, until Crowley muffled his own screams by biting down on his omega’s shoulder savagely hard, sharp fangs breaking the skin, marking him as his own as he spurted deep inside his lover, and began growling posessively as he gripped his omega’s shoulder in his teeth, snarling, and unseeing, unaware at just how tangled their souls had become in that moment, as the angel came too, clamping down tight around his knot, gushing wet and tight, his fingers clawed deep into his alpha’s back, leaving a myriad of welts there.

Crowley collapsed down onto his omega, teeth still locked, still growling on instinct, feeling suddenly relaxed and boneless. His mind wasn’t everywhere it should be. He didn’t know how else to describe it, as incoherent as he was at that moment. He wasn’t alone either. Aziraphale likewise looked utterly stunned and confused, his body felt unreal, he could feel both his sensations of being utterly filled by Crowley, as well as the sensation of being Crowley plunged deep inside the angel’s body. 

_Where are you? Where am I?_

_Don’t know_

_I’m in you_

_Well, yes, of course dear, but I’m also in you, in another sense, and in me._

_What?_

_I don’t know._

Crowley tried to gently release his grip on Aziraphale’s shoulder, feeling the dull sweet pain himself at the same time. He licked at the mating mark gently, and felt it soothe in himself. 

_We’re in each other. We are both us._

_Yes._

_Well this won’t very well do. We need to be one or the other, darling. Make an effort, will you?_

_Sure, no bloody problem, as soon as I figure out how the hell to do it, I’ll be right on it, Angel._

Crowley tried to shift his consciousness, to feel for where his corporation ended, but instead felt it in both bodies at once. He tried wriggling a finger. Tried to figure out exactly where the rest of him had got to so that he could round it up and retreat back to where he belonged again. 

Something moved. There was a rushing sensation, then everything was too _full_ , and then, rather like blobs of molten wax slipping past each other in a lava lamp, Crowley’s soul slid fully past, squeezing Aziraphale’s soul out at the same time, supplanting it, and he was in a single body again. 

He opened his eyes and realised that it was the wrong one. 

He felt the delicious stretch of his corporation’s knot filling his vagina fully, felt the sweet burn of the mating mark in his neck, and sampled the unfamiliar surge of omega hormones rushing around his new body. 

Aziraphale stared down at him in shock from the demon’s old corporation. He definitely wasn’t familiar with his new equipment, but was experiencing a heady afterglow and delicious sensation of being completely locked together with his lover, and inexplicably possessive as he felt alpha hormones for the first time. 

Crowley struggled to get a grip on the situation through a mind drunk on orgasm and sated omega hormones. He felt fuzzy headed and confused. “Don’t think I did that quite right, Angel,” he slurred gently, with a lovesick smile at his old face. It was too surreal. It shouldn’t have been, after all, angelic true forms could be as bizarre as a pile of spinning flaming wheels covered in eyes, and he’d never thought of _that_ as surreal, but this… this definitely was. 

Aziraphale’s mind was rather quicker on the uptake. He paused for a split second of indecision, before leaning down to kiss his lover, strange as that was to kiss his own lips. “Darling, I think you just saved us both.”

The kiss was unusual to experience, but he tried it again, losing himself in the sensation, both of them moaning into the contact, until Crowley felt his soul slipping again. It came quicker this time, and in the spirit of experimentation, this time he pushed with a conscious effort, and found himself sliding past Aziraphale’s soul, supplanting it to sink back into his own body again. “Well at least now we know how to do it, that felt easier.” He smiled and relaxed back down onto Aziraphale’s body, glad to be back in his for the moment, to enjoy the sensation of being tied to his omega until his knot subsided. “You’re right, we can use this. The prophecy, right?” Aziraphale nodded. “Right.” Crowley laid his head on the angel’s soft skin and drifted to sleep. 

He woke a while later, and slid out of his lover slowly, gratified to see the mating mark already beginning to heal over. His lover’s scent has changed subtly since the mating. Unusually, Aziraphale was also asleep, a rare event. He kissed the mark softly, inhaling the omega’s new smell that proclaimed him to be taken by an alpha. He felt a warm glow of protectiveness and overwhelming love, and nuzzled his omega gently. 

He lay back and draped one arm sideways over Aziraphale’s body to feel the slow rise and fall of his chest, then stared at the ceiling, trying to marshal his thoughts. Far too much had happened in the past few days and he struggled to put the pieces together. All of it paled into insignificance though because he finally had his omega… _his_. Crowley’s thoughts screeched to a halt, eyes wide in realisation. 

His phone would still be in his jacket pocket on the floor near the front door. He snapped his fingers gently to summon it to his hands. There was a single text there from several hours before. He opened it with a sinking feeling in his stomach. 

“I’m alive, I guess you did it. I don’t know if you’ll ever even see this, I don’t know if you made it or not, if you didn’t then I guess this text is going out to nowhere, but wherever you are, thank you for everything. You saved us all, everything. If you made it too, well I hope you’re ok. I know the risk you took to do it. Thank you for caring. I want to say the words, I know we said that was not on the list, so I won’t, but you know what I mean. I care about you, and you know that at least. Thank you.”

Crowley drew a pained breath. He read it over and over again, and wrestled with himself internally. He wanted to reply, to tell her that he was ok, but he couldn’t. He wasn’t out of the woods yet, even with the knowledge that he and Aziraphale could swap corporations to try to avoid annihilation, there was no cast iron guarantee that it would work. They might still die. Maybe it was better for Celeste never to find out. If she thought Crowley was dead already maybe that’d be easier on her, than to build her hopes up now and then disappear. 

“Everything alright, love?” Azirpahale murmured sleepily. Crowley dropped his phone in surprise, then fumbled for it, and set it aside. 

“Yes, Angel. Nothing you need to worry about, love. I’ve got you.” Crowley rolled over and wrapped his long limbs around his soft angel reassuringly. “Rest now, sweetheart. We’ve got shit to deal with in the morning.”

* * *

It was a few days later. They’d been through hell, literally. Heaven and hell to be precise. Through hellfire and holy water, and come out the other side. They’d laughed with relief, they’d wined and dined at the Ritz, and Crowley had never been happier in his entire existence. He lay wrapped up in his omega’s arms, this time in the smaller flat above the bookshop, simply because that’s where they’d ended up after coming back there after the Ritz so that Aziraphale could see how Adam had restored it. They’d spent the next three days in bed together, in full-on heat and rut provoked by their closeness, spending hours making love and reaffirming their feelings. 

And now his haze of hormones was finally ebbing, Crowley came back to reality again gradually. The text was still on his phone, and he still had no idea what to do about it. He didn’t know how to say what he needed to say, and didn’t want any ambiguity. He didn’t want to leave her alone in the world. A bonded omega on their own, having lost their alpha, was a miserable thing. It would be pure torture for her, and he had promised never to leave her. He had to see her, to make sure she was ok. He hoped he wasn’t too late, as there was no telling what she might have done if she thought he was dead. He felt terrible for not having come up with some kind of reply the moment he got back from heaven, but his mind had been somewhat elsewhere at the time. 

Suddenly panicking over the thought of what she might do, he decided on a course of action. He texted her. 

“I’m alive, I’m safe. So is A. I’m sorry I didn’t reply sooner, but we weren’t safe immediately. Don’t call, I’m coming over to see you, ok?”

He fretted for a few moments that felt like forever, waiting for a reply, terrified that there wouldn't be one, and what implications that might have. He breathed a sigh of relief when it came through. 

“Ok.” 

Crowley stood and stretched. He then knelt down next to his love and kissed his cheek. “Angel? Wake up.” Aziraphale’s eyes fluttered open and he smiled softly up at the demon. They kissed sweetly. “Angel, I need to go and do something, I just needed to let you know, as I realise omegas can get afraid when their alpha leaves them for the first time after bonding. You’ll be ok, I won’t be long.”

Aziraphale looked panicked. “I’ll come with you!” He blurted, sitting up sharply. Crowley gently pressed him down again. 

“No, love. This is something I need to do on my own. I have to work something out. I’ll be ok, it’s nothing dangerous, just personal stuff, and I promise I’ll explain when I get back. I just need to figure out how to explain, because this doesn’t just involve me, ok? I love you.”

Aziraphale clutched at him desperately. “No, please… Alpha…” Crowley winced. The word might be true, but it was being used as a way to guilt him into staying. That word, more than his name now, had power over him from his omega. Celeste never used it to call him, she knew that was one of their lines in the sand as well, so it felt strange to be hearing it for the first time. His omega was begging him to stay, or to let him come along, but he couldn’t do either. 

“Please don’t call me that, love. Not… not unless it’s important, I feel bad enough about this already, Aziraphale, but it’s something I have to do. I need you to let me do this alone, I promise I’ll be back, and I promise I’ll explain everything. You’ll be ok on your own for a couple of hours.” He grabbed his jacket and shoved it into the angel’s hands. “Here, cuddle this, it smells of me, it’ll keep you grounded, ok?”

Aziraphale grabbed at the clothing gratefully and buried his face in it, breathing deep of the comforting alpha scent. He nodded, but there was still some sadness in his eyes. Crowley felt like a heel, but it had to be done. He kissed Aziraphale’s head tenderly. “I promise, love, you’ll be ok, and I’ll be back soon. I love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter, Crowley needs to reconcile the two aspects of his life, and find out what do do about having two omegas bonded to him at the same time. The angst isn't over yet.


	6. Explaining

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley rushes to his other omega to check she's ok, and to explain the events of the past few days since he saw her last before armageddon. There's grief, comfort, confusion, understanding and more comfort. Next Crowley needs to return to his angel and explain everything, discuss the situation and face the music. There's a lot for Aziraphale to take in, finding out this hidden aspect of his best friend, true love and alpha.
> 
> CW: hints at (only implied) suicidal ideation.

Crowley also felt a pang of loss leaving Aziraphale behind, but at the same time, he was going to see his other omega, and she had just as much of a pull on his hormones, if not his heart, as the angel did. He felt terrible on both counts. For having to leave his angel alone, and for leaving Celeste hanging for so long. She deserved better. He drove furiously, not wanting to waste time on either of their behalfs, and was soon parking up outside the human’s home. 

As soon as he stepped through the door he could smell her distress and it ripped at his heart as his instincts sought to comfort his omega. He ran to find her, she was upstairs sitting on her bed, and looked up as he entered, as if scared to believe he was really there. He could see that she’d been crying, and she looked haggard. 

Crowley rushed to her and enveloped her in his arms. “I’m here now, you’re ok.” He kissed her face and held her tight. She broke and began crying as he rocked her gently. “I’m so sorry, I’m here now, you’re ok.” He cast his gaze around the room. She clearly hadn’t been coping well. 

“I thought you’d died.” Celeste whimpered between sobs. Crowley stroked her beautiful blonde hair and kissed her head soothingly. 

“No, I’m here, I’m ok, and so are you. But when did you last  _ eat _ ? Have you even had anything to drink today?” 

Celeste shrugged. “Can’t remember.” Her tears were slowly subsiding as she was wrapped up in her alpha’s safe scent. She nuzzled into his neck. Crowley sighed and snapped up a bowl of soup and large glass of water on a tray on the bed. 

“Here, have a drink, and get this down you,” he instructed gently. “I’m going to run us a bath, alright? I’ll just be through here, I’m not going far, you’ll be able to hear me, just eat for me ok?” She sniffed and nodded. He gave her a gentle kiss then went to the bathroom.

* * *

When he came back, she had drunk all the water and was halfway through the soup. She managed a weak smile. Crowley sat down next to her and stroked her back comfortingly as she ate. “It was rough, I’m not gonna lie. I couldn’t reply to you when it all went down, there was nothing I could say. I tried but there were no words I could come out with at that point.” 

He heaved a sigh and continued. “I thought Aziraphale was dead. I lost it.” Celeste looked up at him in alarm. “It’s ok, he wasn’t, not properly, but it took a while before I found that out. It broke me for a bit.” Celeste nodded understandingly. “There weren’t any words I could think of that could make anything any better, and I didn’t think I was going to make it either. I figured if you already thought I was dead, maybe it was better that it stayed that way, rather than get your hopes up then drop off the face of the planet and put you through all that again.”

Celeste finished the soup and Crowley snapped the tray away. “Bath?” She nodded and followed him to the bathroom. He undressed her with gentle hands and tender touches, then snapped his own clothing off and sank into the bath with her, sitting back with his omega between his legs, her back to his chest. They relaxed into the hot bubbly water together. As Crowley grabbed a little dish to pour water over her hair to wash it, he carried on. 

“A lot of shit went down, I’ll fill you in on all the rest of it another time, but we found the right Antichrist, faced down Satan, and the Antichrist managed to prevent the end of the world. Aziraphale and I ended up on our own at an airbase in Tadfield, no Bentley, and as far as we knew, no bookshop for Aziraphale either. I told him he could stay at my place, if he liked.” Crowley poured out some shampoo and began to massage it into Celeste’s long blonde hair with skilled fingers as she tipped her head back appreciatively. 

“He held my hand…” Crowley paused and smiled to himself at the thought. “... All the way home, we shanghaied a bus, and he held my hand the whole way back to London. Then back at mine, we kissed again.” Celeste half turned to look at him in surprise with a smile. She looked genuinely happy for him, and squeezed his leg before facing forward again while he rinsed the shampoo out. 

“We had a lot of things to talk about, but he told me to trust him. Told me I wouldn’t make him fall. And at that point, what did we have to lose anyway? We had a reprieve, but as far as we knew, heaven and hell were going to come for us and kill us anyway, so we decided to spend whatever time we had left… together.” Celeste squeezed his leg again gently and nodded. Crowley rubbed some conditioner into her hair. 

“It was amazing. We bonded, I marked him, he’s mine - my omega. I’m his alpha. But there was something more. We found out something else, and it meant that we were able to survive the executions that heaven and hell tried to carry out on us the next day.” 

Celeste shot forward and twisted round in alarm, mouth open. “They tried to execute you?”

Crowley nodded. “That’s another reason I didn’t reply sooner. Again, your last text implied you didn’t know if I’d made it or not, and I didn’t want to get your hopes up just to dash them again, that seemed cruel. But after we got out, I had to take care of my omega, of Aziraphale. After all that, we both needed some time together.”

Celeste nodded in understanding. Crowley rinsed her hair again and scrubbed her back. They finished washing each other and stepped from the bath. Crowley snapped up a warm tumble-dried towel and wrapped her in it, then pulled her into a kiss. 

“But you’re still my omega as well, Celeste, I haven’t forgotten that, I promised, remember?” Crowley lifted her chin with his finger to meet her grey-blue eyes, studying them intently. 

“In your text, you said ‘I want to say the words’.” Crowley murmured to her. She bit her lip and nodded. 

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I wouldn’t have minded, under the circumstances.”

“We agreed not to, those words aren’t for you and me. They’re for you and him. Your angel.” She buried her face in his chest. 

“I know. I respect the fact that even with the world ending and you not knowing what had happened to me, you still held onto that, I’m sorry I asked you to though. I’ve asked a lot of you as my omega. I haven’t been the best alpha to you.”

She shook her head violently. “No! Crowley you’ve been wonderful, more than I could hope for. You stuck around, you could have left me altogether. I’m glad you didn’t, I’m glad I at least got the time with you that I did.” she halted, her voice catching in her throat. “...and I hope your time with your angel is everything you dreamed it would be. I’ll miss you.”

Crowley jerked in alarm “ **_What_ ** ? What the  _ hell  _ are you talking about?” He stared at her tearful eyes. “You think I’m  _ leaving  _ you…?” Celeste nodded slowly, and tears began to run down her soft cheeks. Crowley grabbed her fiercely by the shoulders. “NO!” he kissed her, hard and passionate, then broke off and stared her hard in the eyes again. 

“I am never leaving you, Celeste. Don’t even think about it. I’m your alpha, you’re my omega, for the rest of your life I’m yours and you’re mine. I made a damned  _ promise _ , Celeste. Just because I have Aziraphale now does  _ not  _ mean that I’m abandoning you. Who the hell do you think I am? Surely you know me well enough by now, sweetheart?” He kissed her again then crushed her body close to his possessively. “You’re  _ mine _ .” he reiterated, mumbling into her soft damp hair. 

He couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her, he’d seen the state she had got in after only a few days of thinking he was gone for good. He knew what happened to omegas who lost their alpha. It never ended well. They tended to stop eating and just pine away, or take rather more direct action that didn’t bear thinking about. He had promised never to let that happen to her, and he was a demon of his word. 

Celeste was confused. “But you’ve got your angel now, you don’t need me.” Crowley growled and shifted back to take her face in his hands. 

“ _ Don’t _ say that. You’re still  _ mine _ . Forever. I’m not giving you up. If that means polyamory then we can make it work.” At that, Celeste pushed backwards away from him. 

“No! That’s not for you to say. It’s not your decision to make. It’s  _ his _ . You can’t make that one for him. He’s loved you for thousands of years, you’re  _ his _ , and if he wants you to himself I’m not going to get in the way. I’d rather  _ die _ .”

Crowley snarled and stalked toward her again, fierce, shaking his head. “ _ No _ , don’t say that,  _ never  _ say that, I’m your alpha and  **_I forbid it_ ** .” His words infused with commanding harmonics that left her trembling. A direct order from her alpha couldn’t easily be denied. She whimpered. Crowley took her in his arms again and stroked her hair. “We’re going to work this out, one way or another. I’d like you to meet him. I’m going to go back and explain to him, then I’d like to bring him here, if that’s ok with you? You’re right, we need to talk this out together, the three of us. I promise I’ll respect your decision, but I won’t let you be hurt either way. I’ll look after you somehow.”

* * *

He led her back to the bedroom and towelled himself dry as she sat on the bed watching him, uncertain. He then grabbed some argan oil and a tangle teezer, sat behind her on the bed and began to brush her long hair out, then slid the towel from her softly, and kissed her shoulder tenderly. “Feeling any better now, love?” She tensed at the phrasing and froze. Crowley stroked her skin reassuringly. “It’s ok. They’re my rules to break if I want to. And right now, I want to. You deserve it.”

Celeste drew a slow breath and nodded. Crowley stroked her cheek and pulled her chin around to meet his steady gaze, then kissed her slowly, one hand skimming down to caress her breast. He then encouraged her to shuffle backwards and lay her down on the bed, and began kissing her all over, unhurried, worshipping her body. “I missed you” he breathed into her warm skin, and worked his way down to her voluptuous thighs, parting them with tender care. 

Crowley kissed the lips of her vulva deeply, his strong hands gripping her thighs and massaging them firmly as he worked his tongue in deeper and then flicked up over her clit. He alternated licking with kissing her inner thighs and biting them ever so gently, making her squirm and turn to putty in his hands. 

He slid two fingers into her and wriggled them in the way he knew would make her cry out and shiver. “You mean a lot to me, Celeste, you’re beautiful, you’re kind and caring, you’re sweet and soft, you make me laugh, you make me feel good…” he kissed her thighs a bit more and kept his fingers moving skilfully inside her. “Your body deserves to be worshipped, and I intend to do so.” 

“I don’t want you to ever feel like you’re not special, like you’re undeserving, because you’re not. You’re mine, my omega, you’re beautiful…” he kissed her hip, “sexy…” he kissed her stomach, “amazing…” he kissed her ribs, “gorgeous…” he sucked on her nipple briefly, making her sob and writhe, “utterly perfect…” he kissed her throat, then arrived before her lips with a smile, withdrawing his fingers. “...And  _ mine _ .” Crowley kissed her deeply, and slid his cock into her at the same time.

Celeste arched up to meet him, gasping. Crowley held her tight and softly made love to her, semantics be damned, slow and sweet, uttering words of worship and adoration into her skin with every slow thrust until they were crying out together in their release. 

He stroked her silken soft hair as she dozed afterwards, admiring the plumpness of her lips and the soft curves of her body, so recently ravished before him. He skimmed his hands over those curves reverently. “Celeste?” he murmured, with a gentle squeeze of her hip. “Wake up, beautiful.”

Her clear blue eyes opened and took him in, relaxed at last, feeling safe. “I need to go back to Aziraphale now, ok? I need to talk to him, and explain everything now I know you’re safe. Then I want to bring him back here to meet you. Is that still ok?” She smiled and nodded. “Good.” He kissed her forehead. “I care about you, you know that, don’t you?” Celeste nodded again. 

“And I care about you, go to your angel, Crowley. He needs you too.”

* * *

Aziraphale pounced on Crowley the moment he got through the door, hands everywhere and lips hard on his in his desperation. Crowley laughed and stroked his angel’s back affectionately. “Hush, sweetheart, I’ve got you, I’m here. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Aziraphale nuzzled into Crowley’s neck and inhaled deeply, holding him tight. 

“Missed you” he mumbled into the demon’s shoulder. 

“I missed you too, love, I’m here now, I told you you’d be ok.”

Aziraphale sniffed him curiously. “You smell different.” He wasn’t familiar enough yet to know why that was, but something made him feel uneasy. His alpha smelt strange, still like his alpha but with something else overlying that. Aziraphale hadn’t noted the subtelties of the demon’s scent quite so much until they had bonded. Crowley sighed and took the angel by the shoulders, looking at him seriously. 

“Yes, I know, and we need to have a snuggle and a chat, love, because I have stuff I need to explain. But first I need you to know that I love you more than anything in the world and that’s never going to change. You’re the most important thing in this entire universe to me and I adore you. I’m never going to leave you, Aziraphale, you’re mine and I’m yours. You know that, don’t you, Angel?”

Aziraphale nodded, but fear tinged his expression regardless. Crowley took his hand and led him to the sofa, where, once the angel was seated, Crowley wrapped his gangly limbs around him and held him close. “Comfy, love?” Aziraphale nodded contentedly, and Crowley kissed the side of his face. “Good.”

“Ok, about the smell, the reason for that goes back a few years, before even the antichrist, I think it’s been about 14 or 15 years now, anyhow. You know Hell used to send me on all sorts of temptations, they only eased off when they thought I was helping raise the Antichrist so I didn’t really have many other tasks to take care of during that time. Well some of those were seductions, I’m pretty sure you knew that already, right?”

Aziraphale nodded. “Yes, and I was a little jealous, but you’re your own demon, I had no claim on you, you were free to enjoy yourself any way you liked, it’d be selfish of me to think otherwise.”

Crowley snorted. “Not always enjoyment, Angel. No one is as enjoyable as you are, I can say that with absolute confidence. Yes sometimes it was fun, nice even, but mostly it was just work, a job to do, to get over and done with. I never hurt them, unless they specifically liked that kind of thing. They’re humans, I looked after them.” Aziraphale smiled and nuzzled closer. He knew his demon was soft at heart, he’d known him long enough to see that he was never truly evil. 

“Well I fucked up. Big time. And I had to make it right, because I nearly ruined a human’s life, and I had to step up and take care of the mistake I’d made, to keep them safe. And I’m pretty sure that if I'd asked your advice on what to do at the time, it’s what you’d have told me to do as well.” Aziraphale looked at him in surprise, intrigued. He kissed Crowley reassuringly and nodded at him to go on. 

“I was in rut when a job came through, and you were away in heat at your safe house. The job was close to your place, well not by human standards. It was a couple of miles away, but with a sense of smell like mine, even that was too damn close. It was a seduction. I was tempted to turn it down, and honestly I should have done, but hindsight is 20/20. I’d been getting flak recently for not doing my work well enough and I couldn’t risk bodging another one, so I took it on.”

Aziraphale thought he could see the direction this might be going, but nonetheless he hugged his demon harder and listened patiently. Crowley sighed and carried on. 

“To make it worse, she was pretty much a female version of you, Aziraphale. She’s so beautiful. Same luscious blonde hair, although rather longer than yours,” at this, Crowley pressed a fond kiss to his angel’s soft curls. “Pretty blue grey eyes…,” he kissed Aziraphale on each eyelid gently. “Gorgeous soft thick thighs…,” he squeezed his omega’s thigh and slid his hand up between his legs with a playful flick of his fingers against the seam of his trousers at the top, making the angel twitch and the demon smile wickedly. 

“Whenever I’d had to do seductions before, I’d got through it by imagining they were you anyway, love. If I couldn’t have you, I could pretend they were you. And this one, Celeste, she’s so much like you it’s unreal. I hardly had to imagine at all.”

“Celeste?” Aziraphale questioned, with a quirk of amusement on his features. Crowley chuckled. 

“Yeah, ironic isn’t it? I’ve sometimes wondered if the Almighty set this up somehow, with Her ineffable sense of humour, to set me up with a celestial being and a Celeste-ial being.”

Aziraphale wasn’t sure what to think of that. He was flattered that Crowley had thought of him while sleeping with humans, and the thought that Crowley only really wanted him subdued the twinge of jealousy he felt, but his mind was a maelstrom of conflicting emotion over it all. He thought it best to withhold judgement until he’d heard Crowley out. 

“Anyhow, she was also coming into heat, so I could smell that, and the entire time I could also smell you nearby and it was driving me wild, so when it came to the job, to actually sleeping with her, I kind of lost control.” Crowley took a deep breath and squeezed Aziraphale a little tighter. “I bonded with her by accident. I knotted her and marked her, because I was thinking of you, I was so lost in the sensations, and imagining that she  _ was  _ you, that I couldn’t hold myself back enough.”

Aziraphale stared at his alpha incredulously. Neither of them said anything for a long moment before the angel broke the silence. “You bonded with a human?”

Crowley nodded his head and bit his lip. “I didn’t mean to, love. But what’s done can’t be undone. My options at that point were to leave her and never see her again, but after how you felt with me just parting company with you for a few hours this afternoon, can you imagine how that would have gone?” 

The angel nodded, wide eyed, feeling a deep stab of sympathy for the human, and understanding now what Crowley meant. “So you didn’t leave her? Is that what you meant by you thought it’s the advice I’d have given you if I’d known?”

“Yes. I couldn’t just leave her. She wouldn’t have coped. It would have been unbelievably cruel to do that to her, and I couldn’t leave her the victim of my own stupid mistake. Besides, she was my omega, and I felt responsible for her regardless at that point, I cared about her and wanted to protect her,  _ needed  _ to protect her, it’s a compulsion when you’re bonded. She was my responsibility.”

Aziraphale wrapped his arms around Crowley tightly and kissed him again. “You’re absolutely right, darling. It  _ is  _ what I’d have told you to do. But you didn’t need me to tell you, you’re a  _ good  _ person, Crowley, no matter what you might say. I’m glad you did the right thing.”

Crowley felt tears well up in his eyes, and kissed his angel back. “Thank you, Aziraphale, it means a lot to me to hear you say it at least. I’ve spent years wondering how you’d take it. I couldn’t bear to give either of you up. I’ve been visiting Celeste for years. Every time she’s in heat or I’m in rut, we spend that time together. It wasn’t a love thing. We set boundaries on do’s and don’ts. We’re close friends, but we also have sex. She knows about you. She knows you’re the only man in my heart.” Crowley squeezed his angel close again. 

“She may be the first being I’ve bonded with, she knows I’m a demon, she’s seen my serpent aspect, but I still wanted to save some things only for you. She’s seen my wings, but she’s never touched them, that was too intimate, something I wanted only you to experience, she respects that, that the last angelic part of me should be saved for you alone.”

At this, Aziraphale squeezed Crowley a little tighter, smiling fondly at his alpha. He’d always admired Crowley’s beautiful glossy black wings, and had ached to be allowed to touch them one day, to run his fingers through that beautiful plumage. He was touched that Crowley understood him well enough to recognise how important that was to Aziraphale, and to save that exclusively for him alone.

“She’s been someone to talk to, to vent to, and to share things with that I couldn’t talk about with anyone else, mainly when it was about how much I loved you all that time. She’d encourage me to get closer to you. Even told me off for that time I ran away from you when you kissed me, she told me to get back here and take you. At the time I was convinced I’d make you fall.” He smiled at the memory. 

“She’s supported me and looked after me, I’ve looked after her. I felt like shit for leaving her alone during armageddon but she understood why. She also knew the risks and thought I’d died until today. That hurt her more than anything, and that’s why I had to go to her, before she did anything foolish. She wasn’t dealing with it well.” 

Aziraphale could only begin to imagine what the poor human must have been going through, with a pang of empathy. “Why didn’t you tell me, Crowley? You should have gone to her sooner, darling.” Crowley shook his head. 

“I couldn’t tell you. I didn’t know how you’d take the news that I had another omega before you. I wanted to save myself for you and no one else. It felt like betrayal even if it  _ was  _ an accident. Besides I had no way of knowing if we would ever bond together, you and I. It might not have been until long after Celeste had died of old age, in which case you need never have known at all, as it wouldn’t have been a factor. I wanted to protect you from hurt as well, I always have.” 

Crowley sat back a little on the sofa and regarded his omega steadily. “When I went to her today she thought I was just going to tell her I was leaving her. She almost  _ wanted  _ me to. She told me she’d rather die than keep me from you. She cares about me, and she wants me to be with the man I love, because she knows that’s what would make me happy.” 

The angel was aghast. “An omega told her alpha to  _ leave  _ her?” 

The demon nodded soberly. “Pretty much. She was distraught. I don’t even want to think about what her plans might have been afterwards, she was already not looking after herself, she hadn’t been eating. I had to care for her a bit, and reassure her. I made sure she ate and drank, gave her some TLC, took a bath, and yes…” Crowley drew a breath. “I slept with her again. I.. made love to her. She needed it. She deserved it. She deserved a lot more if I’m honest, I’ve treated her abominably over the years, she’s played second fiddle to a man I wasn’t even bonded with all this time, and she bore it with all the grace of a duchess. Anyhow, what you can smell on me is my other omega, Aziraphale.”

The angel cuddled up to his alpha and buried his face in Crowley’s shoulder, breathing deep and deciphering the subtleness of Celeste’s scent overlaid on his own familiar smoky musk. “She smells nice.” He kissed Crowley’s neck and nibbled at him a little. 

“I’m glad you think so. You’d be inclined to think that anyway, as she’s bonded with me too. It’s natural that to reduce friction in a pack that the omegas will find their scents amenable. It must be a primal thing. Because you’re both bonded to me, my scent has impacted on both of yours. But I’d like you to meet her, if that’s ok with you? We need to talk all this through together.”

“Of course, Crowley. I’d be delighted to meet her.” Crowley sagged with relief. 

“Thank you, Angel. It means a lot to me. Celeste means a lot to me, too. I can’t help it. I’d like to find a way to keep you both happy, love.” With that, Crowley pulled his angel into a deep slow kiss, hands in his hair, until he felt Aziraphale melt under his caresses. 

Aziraphale thought a little. For thousands of years he’d never noticed anything unusual about the alpha’s scent after his rut, but only now that he had some context did he realise that he must have been scenting Celeste on Crowley for several years. He’d returned from his rut with strange emotional layers over his own scent, it might have been a hint of sadness when perhaps Celeste had been going through something rough that Crowley had comforted her through, excitement or other random emotions which didn’t align with the emotions that Crowley himself hadn’t been displaying at the time. It finally made sense that all this time Aziraphale had been receiving communications in scent from the other omega via Crowley without realising it. He felt strangely bonded to her already somehow.

Crowley considered his angel fondly. “Would you like more of me now, love?” Crowley asked. Aziraphale gazed up at him, rapt, and nodded eagerly. “Then you shall have me, Angel.” He made to tease Aziraphale’s trousers undone, but a strong hand grasped his and stopped him. 

“No, let me, darling.” Aziraphale’s grip was firm as he pushed Crowley back onto the sofa, and deftly undid his tight jeans and slid them down, gazing at the demon’s already erect cock in admiration, licking his lips. “It’s my turn to make you feel special, my dear.” Crowley tipped his head back as warm lips wrapped around his cock and a wickedly clever tongue began to swirl around the tip, losing himself in the delightful sensations his angel was lavishing on him.

Aziraphale may have been inexperienced, but he was clearly well-read in certain areas, and was definitely making a good effort with that knowledge. Crowley flinched and writhed under his angel’s ministrations, moaning and grabbing at those fluffy blonde curls as he was licked and sucked into insensibility. 

“Angel, oh…  _ Angel _ !” he gasped out, barely able to hold back, instead he just let himself go. “I’m… oh  _ Aziraphale… _ ” and suddenly he was coming, without warning, spurting down that beautiful throat, his angel swallowing it all down and gently licking him clean with a wicked look on his usually innocent features. “Oh you filthy, filthy Angel.” Crowley murmured, looking down at Aziraphale looking smug between his legs. “I love you, Aziraphale, come here and kiss me, gorgeous.”

Aziraphale obediently crawled up and embraced his lover, then they lost themselves in a long deep kiss. They lay together, wrapped in each other’s arms, content for a while, and Crowley dozed off. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in the next and final chapter, the two omegas finally meet each other, are surprised at exactly how alike they are, and get to know more about each other as Crowley mediates, worrying and caring about both at once. Arrangements are made, but how can they resolve this unconventional situation?


	7. Deciding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley's two omegas meet at last, and are surprised at how alike they really are, and how much they feel they know each other already via their alpha. While Celeste already knows how she feels about Crowley and Aziraphale, the angel still has to work out his own feelings about Crowley and his other omega, and how they should approach things. 
> 
> Aziraphale feels emboldened to explore more than Crowely expected he'd want to. Both human and demon encourage the angel to take time to think things through thoroughly afterwards rather than rush into a hasty decision over longer term plans. Crowley makes one of Aziraphale's fantasies come true, then the angel makes a decision over how they should proceed with the two omega situation. 
> 
> It finishes with a little glimpse into the future, and a soft demon.

Aziraphale couldn’t help but feel nervous as they drove back to Celeste’s home later the next day. Crowley scented his omega’s anxiety and reached across to lay a gentling hand on his thigh, squeezing and stroking to soothe his nerves. Aziraphale took his hand and lifted it up to smell the pulse point at his wrist, inhaling deeply of his alpha’s comforting scent before kissing his wrist and hand, then placing it back on his thigh again and relaxing somewhat. 

When they got there, Crowley didn’t let himself in, he rang the bell and let Celeste come to the door, a minor gesture to help her feel more in control of the potentially awkward situation. When she did, Aziraphale’s jaw dropped, as did the human’s, as they stared at each other in shock. 

It really was like looking in a mirror for each of them, albeit one that flipped gender. Crowley stood silently observing his two omegas meeting for the first time, and how they reacted to one another. The resemblance really was uncanny. Aziraphale gingerly extended a hand to Celeste. “Uh, pleased to meet you, my dear,” he managed, still stunned. Celeste took it and nodded.

“You look just like he described you, I’ve heard so much about you Aziraphale. Thank you for coming to meet me.”

Aziraphale turned to the alpha. “I can completely understand what you meant now, Crowley. I’m not surprised at what happened at all,” he managed a small laugh. “I think you definitely have a type, dear.” Crowley chuckled as well, and they followed Celeste into the house. She made tea and brought through some home baked biscuits for Aziraphale to try. Crowley grabbed one and crunched it with relish. Aziraphale looked surprised. Crowley raised a questioning eyebrow at him in response. 

“You don’t often appear to enjoy food that much, Crowley?” Aziraphale questioned. The demon grinned. 

“You haven’t tried her biscuits yet, Angel. She found my weak spot years ago with these.” Celeste blushed and sat down next to Crowley, on the other side from Aziraphale. Crowley relaxed back on the sofa munching another biscuit while Aziraphale sipped his tea and tried one for himself. 

“Oh, these really are splendid, Celeste.” She shyly drank her tea, still looking a little nervous, until Crowley’s hand fell on her thigh in the same comforting touch he’d used for his angel in the car. Aziraphale took in the sight without expression, trying to decide how he felt about it. Then Crowley’s other hand was stroking his back, between where his wings would be, and he relaxed into the touch with a sigh. 

They chatted a while, gradually becoming more familiar as Aziraphale learned about Celeste, and discovered how much she already knew about him via Crowley. He warmed to her quickly, especially as they had a fair amount in common. She was a librarian which instantly piqued the angel’s interest. Crowley laughed. “Who d’you think helped me find all those books as gifts for you over the past decade and a half, Angel?” Aziraphale looked at the pair of them, surprised, and Celeste blushed a little. 

“I got to know what you like through Crowley telling me, and I have contacts who helped me find the rarer books I thought you might like. I liked the thought of it making you happy. Happy angel meant happy Crowley, and happy me. I’ve kind of been invested in keeping both of you happy if I could help in any way.”

Azirpahale was speechless. That this thoughtful human had been thinking of him and caring about him when he didn’t even know she existed. “My dear… thank you.” He managed at last. He reached across Crowley to place his hand on hers with a gentle squeeze. She smiled shyly at him. 

Suddenly Aziraphale’s eyes shot to Crowley’s, afraid of what expression he might see there. Someone else was touching Crowley’s omega, normally an alpha would react violently to such a thing, but instead, Crowley was smiling benevolently at the pair of them. Aziraphale slowly removed his hand from Celeste’s. “Was that alright, darling?” 

Crowley nodded. “Yeah, you’re not an alpha, and you’re both my omegas, so it doesn’t set anything off in me jealousy-wise. Honestly I didn’t know that until just then either. I didn’t think about how I’d feel about that, but it’s fine. But if anyone  _ else  _ touches either of you it’d be a different story.” He considered the two of them for a moment. “And you’re both ok with me and the other?” 

Celeste nodded. “You already know I am, Crowley. I may have been first to be bonded, but that doesn’t make me your primary. You’ve loved Aziraphale for thousands of years.” Aziraphale was warmed by her honesty. 

“But he did bond with you first, dear,” he stressed. 

Crowley leaned forward and kissed his angel first. “Are you ok with this?” Azirpahale nodded. Crowley turned and slowly pressed a kiss to Celeste’s lips, held it for a moment then leaned back again, watching Aziraphale carefully. “Was that ok?” 

The angel nodded, and took a moment to try to gather the words he wanted. “I didn’t know how I’d feel, but I think you were right earlier when you said about the scents. We’ve both bonded with you and your scent has merged with ours, so we’re linked anyway. Perhaps that’s why I feel so at ease with Celeste on a primal level. Then on another level, I’m grateful that she’s been there for you for so long in ways that I couldn’t be. And she’s been in the background caring about me the whole time as well, even if I didn’t know it.” 

“And how would it make you feel if I were to carry on sleeping with Celeste, when she needed me? Do you think you’d be ok with that, Angel?” Azirpahale could hear the worry in Crowley’s voice. He smiled and tried to be reassuring. 

“Honestly, I have no idea, darling. But, if you, um… if you two would like to try something a little more, I’m open to seeing how I feel about it?” he wasn’t sure how best to phrase it. Thankfully Crowley got the general idea. 

“Would you like us to take this upstairs, I can try being gradually a little more intimate toward Celeste, and you tell me if you’re uncomfortable and want us to stop, is that what you mean? Tell me if it’s not, ok? I don’t want you to say yes to anything that makes you feel awkward, Angel, just because you want to please your alpha.” 

Azirpahale shook his head, then nodded hastily. “No I mean yes, please continue, darling. That is what I meant. I’m ok with this, that is, if you are, Celeste?”    
  
“I don’t have any objection at all, but…” She looked conflicted and bit her lip, glancing at Crowley in question. Crowley chewed his own lip uncertainly. 

“Are you sure that’s something you want to do so soon, Angel? Bit of a big step and I don’t want you feeling rushed into anything, love.” Celeste nodded in agreement, and reached out to squeeze Aziraphale’s hand gently. The angel squeezed back and smiled.

“Carpe diem and all that I suppose,” he shrugged. “No time like the present and I rather feel like I’d like to know now how I feel about it, than stew and overthink things. I’m curious, besides I do rather feel like I know you surprisingly well already, all things considered my dear.”

Crowley levelled a serious look at his angel. “You’re sure, Aziraphale?” He flicked his gaze to his other omega as well. “And you, Celeste? I don’t want either of you doing anything you don’t want.” Aziraphale reached over and kissed him. 

“I’m sure, my love.” He raised a questioning eyebrow at Celeste, who nodded. She stood, and led the way upstairs. Celeste sat on the edge of the bed nervously, and indicated that Aziraphale could sit on the other side if he wished. Crowley knelt on the bed between them and took a breath. First of all he shuffled to Aziraphale and held him tight, kissing him long and slow, feeling the angel steady under his hands.

* * *

“Still ok, Angel?” Aziraphale nodded. “Ok, just tell me if you want us to stop ok?”

Celeste chipped in quietly. “Crowley? How about traffic light system?” He smiled at her with a short laugh. 

“Huh, yeah, good idea actually,” he turned back to Aziraphale. “Ok we use this generally, and it’s something I’d use with you as well, I hadn’t told you about it yet, sorry. Generallly for kinky stuff but honesty I should have told you about it for more conventional sex as well, but it doesn’t just have to be for sex, it can be for anything. If at any point you want stuff to stop - whatever it is, from sex to tickling on the sofa, just say ‘Red.’ Both parties stop everything immediately.” Aziraphale nodded in understanding. 

“Ok, then if you’re unsure about anything, say ‘Amber,’ and both parties pause to check in, to clarify, and make sure everyone is ok, it can also be used to say ‘slow down’ or ‘less of that,’ Then ‘Green’ is ‘go’, you’re happy with what’s going on, or ‘more of the same,’ ‘no worries’ kind of thing. Got that?”

The angel nodded happily. “Yes, dear. It makes perfect sense, thank you. That said, Green away, dear. Do carry on.” Crowley smiled and kissed him. “So do you just want to watch and see how you feel about seeing me being a little more intimate with Celeste, see how it makes you feel? You don’t have to do anything except tell me if you don’t like it, ok?”

Aziraphale nodded, a little nervous, but keen to see how he felt about things. Crowley kissed him again, then turned to Celeste with a smile. He reached to stroke her face tenderly, then kissed her slowly. Aziraphale watched quietly. 

Crowley gently urged Celeste to lie back on the bed, and cupped her breast over her clothes, squeezed and ran his hand down her body slowly, keeping his awareness on his angel’s body language next to them as much as on the human’s. He wanted to be sure Aziraphale wasn’t getting uncomfortable or jealous. Seeing his alpha’s hesitation, the angel murmured “Green” quietly. Crowley nodded, and pressed himself closer to Celeste. 

After kissing a little more, Celeste wriggled so Crowley lifted off as she sat up and eased her top off, exposing her ample breasts in a black lacy bra. Crowley glanced to Aziraphale again first before reaching forward to caress and kiss her breasts, then paused to slide his own shirt off. He met Aziraphale’s hungry gaze and moved over to kiss his angel again as Celeste wriggled out of her jeans and underwear. “Everything still ok, Angel?” Aziraphale nodded and kissed Crowley back. 

“Still green darling. Do you need me to do anything?” Crowley shook his head. 

“All you need to do is tell me if you want us to slow down or stop, if you feel in the slightest bit uncomfortable with me doing this, ok?” He kissed his angel again, then turned back to the human, who lay quietly, watching them both. Crowley drew an appreciative hand down the length of her body, stroking her pale skin. Aziraphale followed his lover’s hand with his eyes, lips parted slightly, imagining that touch on his own skin. Seeing it on a woman who looked so very much like himself was a little surreal, but it made him tingle all over in anticipation. He was beginning to feel a little wet and shuddered with quiet delight. 

It was peculiar, he hadn’t felt attraction to a woman, but then he hadn’t really felt attraction to  _ anyone  _ except Crowley before anyway, regardless of gender, it was more the context of Crowley doing the touching which was making him feel strangely aroused. Crowley had bent over and began to kiss down the human’s body in tender kisses. Azirpahale shifted a little closer on the bed, making the demon pause to look up at him, worried. “Still ok, love?”

The angel nodded “still green, darling. You’re just so gorgeous…” 

Crowley smiled and reached out to touch Aziraphale’s hand briefly before returning to caressing Celeste again. The human’s gaze met the angel’s and she reached out a hand, laying it open, palm up, on the duvet between them in silent invitation. Aziraphale reached out and took her hand with a soft squeeze. She squeezed back, and after a moment let go again. Crowley was kissing down to her thighs reverently, and the angel was captivated by the sight of the muscles of his torso sliding under the skin as he moved over the woman. He couldn’t resist, and reached out to stroke Crowley’s back. The alpha briefly closed his eyes and hissed in delight at the extra contact like fire on his skin. He turned to grab at Aziraphale’s hand then kissed it before letting go again. 

Next, Crowley knelt up and undid his jeans, then stood to wriggle out of them, before remounting the bed, now naked, checking in again with his angel with a look. “Ok, Aziraphale?” His omega nodded again.

“Still green, please, darling, you don’t have to keep checking, I’ll say if I’m not ok.” Crowley nodded, then raised an eyebrow at Celeste who nodded as well. 

“Green” she murmured. “Are you ok too, Crowley?” The alpha nodded.

“I’ve got the two most beautiful omegas in the world on a bed with me at the same time, why wouldn’t I be?” He winked and licked his lips with a wicked grin, his apprehension at what they were doing was dissipating. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you two, but whatever it was, I’m glad I did it.” He slid a hand up Celeste’s thigh and between her legs, until his fingers were brushing at her labia teasingly. She squirmed and opened her legs wider for him, then arched her back like a cat when his fingers slid in deeper, emitting a low moan of delight. Aziraphale felt his own vulva twinge and get wetter at the sight and his breathing deepened. 

Crowley could taste the arousal in the room from the pair of them, and was relieved that his angel wasn’t just ok with this, but appeared to be enjoying himself to some degree at least. He kissed Celeste’s hip and slid in another finger, glanced at Aziraphale and then moved to place his head between her legs and began to lick, withdrawing his fingers for a little bit, concentrating on licking her labia and clit, before plunging his fingers back in again while continuing to lick at her clit. Celeste writhed on the bed and panted out his name in short gasps, quickly coming undone, until she came in a shaking mess, gushing her release over his hands and waiting tongue. 

Crowley lapped it all up greedily as she came down from her orgasm, then lifted up, still watching her beautiful body before him, when he felt a hand on his face, and Aziraphale was next to him, pulling him into a fierce kiss, tasting Celeste’s juices on his lips. Crowley’s eyes went wide in surprise at the unexpected turn of events. After Aziraphale broke off for a moment, Crowley found his voice. 

“So I’m guessing this is more than ok with you, Angel?” He indicated Celeste and himself in general with a sweeping arm and a laugh. Aziraphale nodded, then looked at Celeste. 

“Would you be amenable to me, um, touching you as well, my dear? I don’t know if I like it or not yet, but if you are alright with it, I’d like to try, at least once, in the spirit of inquiry.” Celeste smiled and shrugged. 

“It’s more than ok, Aziraphale, just don’t do it if you’re only wanting to make Crowley, or me, feel better. Only do it if you want to, stop whenever you want, I won’t take offence.” She reached out and took his hand again, then brought it to her lips and kissed it. When she let it go again, Aziraphale stroked her face, then hesitantly inched forwards and placed a chaste kiss to her lips before rocking back again. Crowley, dumbfounded, knelt by Celeste’s legs and watched the pair of them in silence, hesitating to do anything that might break the spell. 

He hadn’t expected Aziraphale to want to join in at all, but was gratified to see his love taking an interest. He’d have been happy just to know that his angel was ok with him sharing affection with the human, he wouldn’t have instigated asking Aziraphale to join in. 

The angel reached out a tentative hand to lay it on the human’s breast and squeezed gently, then teased her nipple with his fingers, eliciting a moan from Celeste’s lips in response. She cautiously reached out and laid a hand on Aziraphale’s thigh, their blue-grey eyes meeting with a nervous smile between them. Crowley watched his two omegas in rapt attention, his cock achingly hard at the sight, but he dared not interfere while his love worked through his emotions. 

Aziraphale reclined next to Celeste and reached over to take one nipple in his mouth, sucking gently. The human moaned and stroked his blonde curls, urging him to more boldness. He slid one hand down her soft stomach to her vulva and stroked lightly over her outer labia. “Is this ok?” he whispered to her. She nodded and stroked down his neck, then encouraged him to come closer for another kiss. Azirahphale complied, hesitant, but melted into it after a moment, then broke off to pay attention to her other nipple.

The angel’s fingers were experienced at giving his own vulva pleasure, and he honed in on her already sensitive clit with unerring accuracy, giving her a jolt that made her flinch up off the bed with a gasp. He backed off immediately. “Sorry… sorry.” he whispered. Celeste smiled warmly at him.

“Nothing to be sorry for, that was amazing, but yeah, a little gentler, I’m still sensitive from Crowley.” She looked toward their alpha, who was watching them, breathing hard, eyes golden from side to side, with no sclera visible, pupils blown wide with lust, and very slowly stroking his lengthy cock. “But I think we’re neglecting him a little. Would you like Crowley to join us, Aziraphale?” 

Aziraphale nodded hastily, thought for a moment, and then snapped his clothing away. Crowley grinned. “Keep doing what you’re doing to Celeste, Angel, just lie flat next to her and reach over with your right hand, then open your legs.” Aziraphale left off his attention to her breasts and laid back, heart hammering, next to the human. He kept his fingers busy, gently stroking and delving between her wet folds, as Crowley approached on hands and knees and lay down on his front between them. He slid one hand up between Aziraphale’s thighs and began to work his own long deft fingers there, feeling his wetness and drawing it out to lubricate his hard little clit, circling it firmly. 

Crowley then slid his other hand into Celeste’s vagina, as Aziraphale’s fingers continued to circle her clit gently. He smiled to see his two beautiful omegas laid out before him coming undone under his hands together. He saw Celeste’s hand reach over to rest on Aziraphale’s hip and she tilted her head sideways to meet his gaze. “Is this ok?” She drew her fingers in light circles on his skin, skimming closer to his crotch. Aziraphale swallowed and nodded. 

“Green,  _ so _ green…” he whispered, and closed his eyes as a wave of pleasure rolled over him from Crowley’s ministrations. Celeste allowed her hand to join Crowley’s and teased at Aziraphale’s clit gently, making him moan and shudder to feel two hands both working at him at once, inside and out. Crowley left off his attentions to Celeste for a moment, lifting himself up over Aziraphale, keeping one hand between his legs, and kissed him deeply until the angel cried out in a quivering orgasm. The demon slowly withdrew his fingers, licking them clean with a satisfied smirk, then turned his attentions back to the human again. 

As Aziraphale laid back in his afterglow, Crowley moved across to support himself over Celeste, her legs opened wider to admit his narrow hips, and he slid his stiff cock into her with a sigh. Aziraphale moaned at the sight along with the human, and watched intently as his alpha ground into the other omega steadily, sliding in and out in glorious slow deep movements, plunging into her hot wet depths with groans of pleasure. 

The alpha held Celeste closer and kissed her deeply, then felt Aziraphale’s hand stroking along his back, up and down, then up to the back of his neck, then his cheek. Crowley turned his head to meet Aziraphale’s gaze as he leant forward to kiss the demon as he thrust into the human. Aziraphale’s hand found Celeste’s breast again and carried on teasing her nipple, then he bent closer to kiss her once more, a little more confidently this time. 

Crowley’s movements were becoming stronger, more forceful, and his powerful alpha scent amped up, filling the room with its heady musk, driving both omegas wild with its intoxicating aroma. Aziraphale rolled on his back again and let his fingers explore his own folds once more as he watched Crowley taking Celeste beside him. He hadn’t been able to imagine how he might feel seeing this, and was relieved to find that he found it delightful. 

The angel watched as Crowley grunted and his thrusts became shorter, his knot now buried deep inside the other omega, who was whimpering and clawing at his back urgently, legs now locked around his waist and begging for more. Aziraphale’s fingers moved more rapidly, remembering the sensation himself and grasping at the sheets with his other hand, before finding Celeste’s hand groping for his, then grabbing and holding it tight as she sobbed her way through her orgasm, with Aziraphale hot on her heels, the sound of the pair of them in throes of ecstasy pushed the alpha over the edge and he came deep inside the human with a shout that tapered into a deep rumbling growl.

Crowley lay on top of Celeste, hot and exhausted, his knot buried in her tight vagina, the spurts of come abated but his cock still occasionally twitching with aftershocks. He rested his head on her chest, looking across to Aziraphale with a smile. He reached across with one hand to stroke his angel. “I’m the luckiest fucking creature on the planet right now.” He gasped, feeling Celeste’s hands stroking through his red hair as she kissed his head. Aziraphale hummed in agreement and rolled over to wrap the pair of them in an embrace, wrapping one leg around theirs, and an arm across Crowley’s back. They drifted, half awake and half asleep, in a haze of endorphins.

* * *

Crowley roused after a while and slid gently out of Celeste, who whimpered softly and clutched at him. He pressed a kiss to her lips then stood, stretching languorously. He gazed down at his two beautiful omegas side by side and his heart felt like it might burst with pride and affection. He miracled up another blanket and laid it down over them both, Aziraphale hadn’t woken yet, and Celeste was regarding him with a hazy sleep-drunk expression and satisfied smile. Crowley returned it, then ambled downstairs to fetch something to drink for all of them. He found a takeaway menu and decided to order in some chinese for them all to share, before returning upstairs. 

He passed a bottle of water to Celeste who took it gratefully, then kissed his angel fondly. “Beautiful? Angel? I’ve got you something to drink, love.” Aziraphale’s eyes twitched open. He blinked slowly and smiled at his alpha. Crowley kissed him again and placed the bottle in his hands. “Come on, sweetheart, time to rehydrate love. I’ve ordered us some dinner, it’ll be here in a bit.” He sat on the edge of the bed and regarded them both with a lovesick smile plastered across his features for a moment, reaching out to stroke both of them affectionately. “You two are so damn beautiful.” Crowley whispered with a smile, making them both blush. “I’m going for a shower, feel free to join me, either of you, or both, whatever you like. I had a big walk-in shower installed for Celeste a couple of years ago, so it’s big enough for all of us if you want to join in Angel, it’s up to you, love.” 

Crowley stood and swayed through to the bathroom. After a moment, Celeste stood to follow him, with a smile at the angel, who remained on the bed a little longer, gathering his thoughts. After a minute or two, he decided to join them. 

Crowley was alternating rubbing shampoo into his own hair with rubbing it into Celeste’s when he noticed Aziraphale come in, and his features split into a wide grin. “My favourite angel, want me to do yours too, gorgeous?” Azirpahale nodded wordlessly, and stepped into the relaxing warmth of the water with them, feeling Crowley’s hands slide over his body with a sigh. 

A little while later they sat downstairs, opening the foil cartons of takeaway. Duck and hoisin pancakes, lemon chicken, chow mein, special fried rice, malaysian satay chicken, sweet and sour, beef and oyster mushroom sauce, spring rolls and krupuk. Celeste nabbed a bit of crispy lemon chicken with her chopsticks and fed it to Crowley. Aziraphale watched their easy intimacy with interest. It was clear that this was something familiar to them. True, he and Crowley had shared takeout often as well, Crowley even occasionally feeding his angel with a choice morsel from his chopsticks too. It felt strange to know that Crowley and Celeste had also been sharing such simple pleasures for so long, at least in human terms anyway. 

Mistaking the angel’s expression for disappointment, Celeste deftly nabbed another piece of chicken and held it up to Aziraphale with an easy smile. “Go on, it’s delicious,” she urged. Aziraphale accepted the morsel happily and relaxed a little more, chewing thoughtfully.

He swallowed and wondered how to broach the subject and he supposed was lingering in all their minds, how best to approach things. It wasn’t something he’d ever had to think about before, or ever thought he’d have to. “I… I certainly have no objection to perhaps, some, um, closer… living arrangements?” He began, uncertainly. Celeste looked up at him in surprise. Aziraphale dipped his head shyly. “I… I mean… that is, if you’d like that as well, of course.” He looked up to see what the response might be. 

Crowley was beaming as if his heart might burst. Celeste looked relieved but also uncertain. “Please don’t feel pressured, Aziraphale, I don’t expect you to decide this straight away. I’d rather you take a few days to think it over properly, discuss it with Crowley, than rush into it. I also don’t expect you to feel obliged to, uh… y’know. Join in, with us, that is, unless you want to. I don’t mind at all, but please don’t feel you have to do that just to make Crowley, or even me, happy.”

Aziraphale nodded. “It was different, nothing I’d ever thought about before it was… nice. I don’t know yet if I would again or not, I think I’d rather take it day by day, and see how I feel about it in future, but I’m happy to share Crowley with you. If that means us having somewhere to live where we can be together, as a pack, then I’m happy with that too.” Crowley stroked his angel’s leg with a gentle hand. 

“Maybe somewhere that you two can also be apart in your own private areas when you like as well. Maybe a communal living area but with separate flats? I own my own damn apartment block, Aziraphale, I’m happy to have some renovations done, maybe fling in a staircase to link my flat to the one downstairs, it’s empty right now anyway.” He shrugged and dipped some krupuk in the oyster sauce. “Just a thought anyway, as Celeste said, don’t rush it, love. Have a proper think first, ok?”

* * *

Driving Aziraphale back home to the bookshop later, Crowley rested his hand on his angel’s thigh. “I'm so proud of you, love” he murmured. Azirpahale met his gaze, a warm glow suffusing his body at his alpha’s praise. 

“What for?”

“It wasn’t easy, having to deal with all this, I know it’s a lot to take in, I’m pleased with how you dealt with it all. You wouldn’t believe how much I admire you right now, Aziraphale. You’re so damn beautiful. I just wanted to say thank you for being so sweet with Celeste as well. I appreciate it. I always worried that you two might not get on, or that you might not want me to see her any more…” 

Aziraphale snorted in derision. “Do you really think I could be that cruel, Crowley? To either of you? I’m proud of  _ you _ , darling, for doing the right thing, for taking care of your human for so long, so diligently, despite everything else that you were going through. You stepped up and took ownership of the problem, took responsibility and owned up to your mistakes. It would have been so easy for you to be like any other demon, to just walk away from her and leave her to heaven knows what fate. I’m glad you didn’t. She’s a sweet person. I like her.”

Crowley smiled and relaxed his shoulders a little. It still made him feel uncomfortable to be praised, although Celeste had admittedly been easing him into it little by little for a while as well. He pulled up outside the bookshop and breathed a sigh of relief. It had all gone rather better than he’d hoped. He stepped out and wrapped his arm around his angel’s waist as they walked toward the bookshop, giving him an extra squeeze as he unlocked the door. 

Once inside, Crowley wasted no time in spinning his angel around and pinning him up against the wall next to the door by his lapels, then kissing him deeply. Aziraphale had confessed that he had felt overwhelmingly aroused by Crowley doing the same thing at the paintball centre a few days ago, and he decided it was time to make it up to his angel by making his fantasy real. 

He pressed his face close to Aziraphale’s and ground his erection hard up against his omega’s hips. He growled deep in his chest and snarled in his face, prefacing the scene with a sly wink, noting the slight smile on the corners of his lover’s lips in recognition. “You’ve been saying some very …  _ niccccceee…  _ things to me, Angel, and you know demons are never..  _ Nicccce… _ .” he hissed dangerously. “I think you need to be taught a lesson, don’t you? Teach you how demons really act?” He noticed his omega’s pupils blow wide with desire and felt his pulse thudding rapidly under his touch. Crowley paused and brought his lips close to Aziraphale’s ear, whispering low into it. “Colour, Angel?”

Aziraphale licked his lips and responded hungrily. “Green, so,  _ so  _ green…” He met Crowley’s gaze then surged forward in a passionate kiss that caught the demon unawares in its ferocity. His angel was exceptionally horny, he broke off with a grin and wedged one leg between Aziraphale’s thick thighs to give him something to rub his clit against, a firm surface to grind on, as Crowley ground his erection against his hip, and licked down his neck, nipping and sucking as he went. 

Too impatient to bother undressing the regular way, Crowley snapped both their clothes away, then grabbed Aziraphale by the hips and hoisted him up the wall firmly, kissing and biting now at his chest as the angel’s hands clawed at his red hair, whining with need. Crowlely could smell the sweet omega musk rising from his angel’s dripping pussy and the scent drove him wild. “You’re all mine, Angel, I want to hear you say it, whose omega are you?” Crowley growled in a bass rumble, as he hoisted the angel higher with strong hands, lined him up and rested him just by the tip of his hard cock, already leaking with precome.  _ “Whose?” _ he demanded, voice rough and husky.

“Yours, alpha, always yours, only yours, please, please, alpha, take me…” the angel whimpered needily. 

“That’s right, omega, you’re …  _ mine _ ” Crowley hissed with a grunt on the final word as he finally thrust deep into his angel, burying himself to the hilt in one savage thrust. Aziraphale cried out at the sensation then whined for more. 

“Please, Alpha, fuck me, please, I need more darling, please…”

Crowley complied eagerly, gripping his angel’s thighs hard enough to bruise, hammering up into his hot depths hard, flesh slapping against flesh, biting at his clavicle urgently, gasping and grunting in his primal need. “Fuck, youre so gorgeous, I love you so  _ fucking  _ much, Angel. I fucking  _ love  _ you, you beautiful bastard…I want to tell you every single fucking day how beautiful you are, how amazing you are, how sweetly you take my cock. I just want to fill you up, make you mine over and over again. I never want anyone else to even look at you, my gorgeous omega, all mine, mine,  _ mine… _ ” He was gasping and losing control with every passionate thrust into his angel, feeling his knot growing and his orgasm pooling in the pit of his belly, his balls tightening with imminent release. 

Crowley pressed open mouthed kisses to every inch of skin he could reach, dragging teeth over the sensitive heat of his lover’s body, growling and wanting to bite indiscriminately as each nip drew delightful yelps from Aziraphale’s lips, and made his pussy clamp tighter around his cock. He thought of his two omegas writhing side by side on the bed earlier and he tipped over the edge, spiralling away inside his own mind with a couple of final thrusts, spurting his semen deep inside Aziraphale’s willing cunt with a groan, tipping his head back, feeling the sensation tip his angel over into an orgasm of his own, hot and wet around him, squirting and dripping. He felt Aziraphale kissing and biting at his long exposed throat and hissed in delight at the sensation. 

Crowlely finally relaxed a little and considered their situation. He needed to lie down and rest for a bit, so he released one of Aziraphale’s hips and quickly snapped them into the bed upstairs, laying down, with his angel lying on top of him this time, a comforting warm weight. He lay back with a deep breath. “You are  _ so  _ amazing, Aziraphale. I love you. Was that ok for you, love?”

Aziraphale nodded happily. “Mmmm, rather.” He smiled down at his lover. “You were delightful, darling, everything I’d fantasised about. Then again if we had actually done that at the convent it might have been a little inconvenient to still be stuck tied together when the police turned up.”

“I’d have stopped time for us, Angel, you know I would. I’d stop time to have an eternity with you, my love.” He kissed his angel again and drifted off to sleep. 

Crowley woke up much later with his angel spooned up against him, plush buttocks squeezed against his crotch, which was sporting an achingly hard erection. He nuzzled into the back of Aziraphale’s neck, drinking in his delicious scent, wrapped his arm tighter around his angel’s middle and ground his hips forward gently, rubbing up against his back. 

Aziraphale roused slightly with a sleepy smile and twitched his hips backward onto Crowley’s playfully. “Mmmm, someone’s awake and eager then, love?” he murmured at his demon. Crowley gently nipped the back of his shoulder playfully.

“Of course, like a refill, Angel?” In response, Aziraphale adjusted his position slightly so Crowley’s cock could nudge up against his vagina from behind, and wriggled teasingly. Crowley shuffled his hips forward then sank in slowly into those sweet depths with a sigh. They rocked gently together, the angel still deliciously wet from earlier, and Crowley felt delightfully filthy sliding in and out of the mess he’d made already and he moaned into Aziraphale’s skin. He wrapped one long arm around the angel’s waist and plunged his hand down between his legs until his clever fingers found Aziraphale’s clit and massaged it gently in little circles. The omega gasped out and squirmed in his grasp.

“Oh  _ Crowley…  _ oh love… that’s amazing. Please, don’t stop darling,  _ please…  _ oh…” Crowley grinned and worked his fingers quicker while thrusting in from behind. His cock was long enough that even from this position he still had a good eight inches sunk deep inside the angel. He gritted his teeth and rested his forehead against Aziraphale’s back as he pumped harder, losing his thoughts in the exquisiteness of the sensation. 

He could feel Aziraphale starting to lose coordination as his body twitched and jerked under his hand, that beautiful pussy starting to tighten deliciously around him as the angel came with a quiet sob of fulfilment, and a few strokes later Crowley spilled deep inside him again with a long satisfied groan, planting kisses over the omega’s back and shoulders as he came down from his euphoria. He slid his hand from between Aziraphale’s legs then wrapped it tight around his middle, hugging his angel close as they drifted back off to sleep again, still wrapped together and relaxed on a buzz of endorphins. 

* * *

Aziraphale sipped his tea and watched Crowley sprawled on the sofa in the spacious Mayfair apartment, scrolling through his phone. He mulled it over. The place was certainly large enough, if a little cold looking, despite the underfloor heating making it all warmer than you’d expect. He visualised what it could look like with a few more home comforts, some bookshelves, a rug here and there perhaps, some warmer lighting… he could envision a picture of domestic bliss here with a little work. His flat above the bookshop was certainly too dingy to fit even the pair of them comfortably, let alone a potential trio. 

Crowley had shown him the vacant flat downstairs. He hadn’t rented it out to anyone for a while, and it’d be easy enough to install a staircase to link the two into a duplex, so someone could have their own space but still be easily linked to upstairs. He considered the options. Perhaps Celeste could have the spacious downstairs apartment to herself, she could then rent out her old place for some extra income, so she could retain some independence. 

Maybe he and Crowley could be together in the penthouse, but then would she feel that Aziraphale was claiming too much of Crowley, to be sharing their bed every night whereas she’d have to put up with occasional visits? He felt conflicted. Perhaps Crowley could just alternate between the two of them, spend time with one or the other, then they could share mealtimes together, relax on the sofa? 

How would he feel knowing that Crowley was downstairs giving pleasure to the other omega while Aziraphale was upstairs on his own? Should they perhaps share the super king sized bed together so Crowley could cuddle both of them at once and share pleasure with them as each desired it?

Aziraphale felt out of his depth and conflicted. Perhaps they should play it by ear, try things out and see what felt right. Either way, communication was going to be the key. Honesty, openness and not holding anything back from each other, otherwise he could see it all heading South rather quickly. He’d spent 6,000 years not communicating his feelings effectively enough with Crowley and he never wanted to be like that again. 

He stepped over to the sofa and snuggled up to his demon, burying his nose in his shirt and inhaling deeply, nuzzling in close and wrapping his arms around that gorgeous lean frame. “I think we should give it a go, darling. Moving Celeste in downstairs, I mean, and trying this out, see how we work together. Just make sure that we all communicate properly about it, anything no matter how trivial it might seem, lest things fester and become a problem between us. I couldn’t bear to lose you to a misunderstanding, or make you resent me for making your other omega upset. I want to do this right, Crowley.”

His alpha nuzzled into his hair affectionately and pressed a kiss there. “Thank you, love. Same goes for you too, remember. You need to tell me if you don’t feel like you’re getting enough attention, if you think I’m not being even handed, I need to know, ok beautiful?” Aziraphale nodded and kissed him. 

Crowley stroked his angel’s hair, relishing it’s silky softness under his fingers. “Of course Celeste will carry on getting older, and I’m still going to care for her. I might ask you to help a little later on, bits of healing here and there as she ages. We can’t keep her from dying eventually but we can at least keep her comfortable. There’ll be a stage in the future where there’ll be carers, nurses and that kind of thing, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. You can pose as her grandson or something to interact with the humans, after all you do look alike. I made a promise to her of forever, as I have with you. Her forever just won’t be as long as ours. I want to make her forever as good as it can be, then I’m all yours again Angel.” 

Aziraphale considered it. He could imagine how distraught Crowley was going to be in a few decades when Celeste was gone, but he knew he’d always be there for his alpha, to comfort him through the loss, and to be his for the rest of eternity. He could do this for his love, be there for him, and to repay the human for her caring about Crowley for so long as well.

* * *

* * *

**EPILOGUE**

Of course it wasn’t all plain sailing. There were inevitable misunderstandings here and there, but thankfully not any that dragged on too long. They resolved to communicate and did. Aziraphale didn’t make a regular habit of sharing Crowley directly with Celeste as a trio, but did occasionally indulge. He didn’t have an interest in sleeping with only the human without Crowley however, but enjoyed the experience of the three of them as an occasional treat. 

Crowley and Celeste took charge of most of the cooking, and they shared each dinnertime together as a trio, shared their thoughts and feelings, and snuggled up on the sofa, all three of them together. Afterwards, Crowley would accompany one or the other to bed, or sometimes just snuggle up to sleep with the pair of them at the same time, depending on how they felt. Celeste occasionally helped out in the bookshop, but mostly left it as Aziraphale’s haven when he wanted to get away and spend some time to himself. 

As the human got older, Crowley’s desire for her never waned, he carried on making her feel beautiful and desired, and gave her whatever she wished for from him. He delighted in accompanying her out, now that they agreed that being together in public was something they could do again. Especially seeing the expressions on other human’s faces of seeing a beautiful older woman with a hot young toyboy on her arm. He’d act up to the stereotype and fawn on her with over the top public displays of affection, just to giggle at the other humans’ scandalised faces. Celeste couldn’t help but giggle too. “If only they knew how much older than you I really am,” he’d whisper in her ear with a grin.

Aziraphale organised a meal out at the Connaught for Celeste’s 65th birthday. She looked as glamorous as ever, still a blonde bombshell. Crowley took her on his arm proudly, taking Aziraphale’s on the other side. He had long since ceased to care what anyone else thought of their curious arrangement, although an alpha with more than one omega was hardly rare, some betas still found it strange to see. He took turns hand feeding each of his omegas delectable morsels, feeling contented and relaxed. 

He raised his champagne flute. “A toast to the birthday girl, my most beautiful temptation, and the second love of my life.” Aziraphale chinked his glass with a wide smile and drank, while Celeste stared wide eyed at Crowley in surprise. He caught her expression and slid his hand onto her thigh. “My rules to break, remember, love? You are.” Azirpahale nodded in agreement. Crowley nodded at the angel approvingly. “Even the first love of my life agrees. You’re mine, ours. Always will be.” 

Celeste didn’t know what to say, Crowley set his glass aside and took her face in his hands. “It’s ok, beautiful. Aziraphale understands, he approves. I love you.” He brought their lips together in a tender kiss. Her eyes welled up with tears. She’d never uttered the words back. She’d never felt allowed to, it felt wrong and awkward, but Crowley’s hands were on her skin, reassuring, his eyes sincere behind his dropped shades as he gazed at her over the top of them. She swallowed nervously. 

“I love you too.” She whispered. Crowley smiled and kissed her again. He could feel Aziraphale’s hand on his thigh, comforting and accepting. He felt wrapped in love on all sides, and like the luckiest demon in the world and out of it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll admit that this was the chapter I was most worrying over uploading, because I realise that there are still many people who strongly dislike the polyamorous community, and this may provoke some strong feelings. I will clarify that I am not myself poly, so any mistakes are my own, however I do have several polyamorous friends, one of whom runs resources for helping people new to polyamory navigate the intricasies of it. I sometimes refer other friends to them for advice. 
> 
> I know that Crowley didn't handle everything perfectly, but then who among us does? We are all flawed creatures, we make rash decisions in the heat of the moment, we mess things up, but hopefully, like Crowley we will at least try to put things right. Also, like Crowley, sometimes the way we try to do that doesn't always go right either, but the important thing is intent, and wanting to do the right thing. 
> 
> Crowley, I hope, has learned that communication is the most important aspect of all, and that is the lesson I'd like anyone to take away from this for their own lives. Talking can be scary, opening up can be scary, but if you're struggling with how to discuss an important matter, open up to a trusted friend (or a professional like an organisation who specialises in such things), and ask for advice, or even mediation. Few things ever got better through ignoring them. 
> 
> In the omegaverse there is an added complication that if Crowley had messed up worse, that a human's life was on the line, so it was never as simple as just dumping someone, the consequences were rather more serious than that, which made for an interesting dynamic for this fic. 
> 
> I'll be honest I'm not even sure what prompted me to write it, this story had just been bouncing around in my head for months, being incredibly insistent, my brain would be giving me new scenarios and chapters all the time and demanding to be written. At first I thought if I did write it that I wouldn't bother publishing it, but my friends encouraged me to give it a go. 
> 
> If you didn't enjoy it, I'm sorry it wasn't your cup of tea, but this is a bit of a standalone oddity in my works, feel free to go enjoy some SFW comedy or fluff from my works instead as an antidote if you like, or some comedy smut. I realise you can't please all of the people all of the time, but I'd still like to thank you for giving it a read anyway, I appreciate your time. 
> 
> If you did enjoy it, thank you, I've really liked reading all the kind and thoughtful comments people have left as the story progressed. It's definitely been the most stressful fic to write, but at least now you've got some closure.

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been bouncing around in my head for MONTHS and I resisted writing it at all, as I didn't think anyone would be interested, until the lovely folk on the Good Omens Discord server heard the premise and persuaded me to give it a go. It's a longer one, over 33k words, split over 7 chapters, so this first one was the shortest. 
> 
> I know that many people are put off omegaverse A/B/O fics because of tokophobia (not wanting to hear about pregnancy or babies). Well do not fear! I'm also childfree (and very happily permanently sterilised). I haven't included pregnancy or kids in any of my fics yet and I'm not about to start now, as it is REALLY not my cup of tea. The closest I've got was giving Crowley a demonically possessed sentient vacuum cleaner as a "child" in "Roomba of Doom". 
> 
> In this fic, marking is more about the bonding aspect, possessiveness is more about protectiveness, and people's individual freedom is respected. I'm a sucker for possessive Crowley being all protective over his angel, and like the whole bity/marking/knotting kink, so wanted to do that properly for the first time as I've only touched on the theme vagueley before (in "I'm yours" and "Shake a tail feather") but this is my first proper A/B/O. The only difference being is that I assume sterility/birth control etc for all involved. 
> 
> Like all my fics, this will have a happy ending, and Crowley will always get is angel, sooner or later...
> 
> By the way, here's the song that inspired the title, this version of the video has the music created entirely using a car to play the instruments. [ click here to view on youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MejbOFk7H6c)


End file.
